IV Dark Sight
by Kyeian
Summary: COMPLETE. I want to be free...I've always wanted to be free. Have I ever been free? I've always had something holding me back, somethig holding me down...so now is MY time. Now is MY moment. Part four of the Escape Series.
1. Creature Comforts

**Creature Comforts**

It would be so nice to just…walk out that door. To leave all this bullshit psychotherapy behind and just…go…to be free. The lobby was empty, the parking lot was empty…the road. At this point of the day, there were hardly any cars at all along that road.

There was a bus, though.

I sighed as I studied the buildings across the street, thinking.

It'd been a long six months.

Initially, Heero had willingly undergone the evaluations. I'd gotten the definite impression that he'd thought he was fine. When they'd started coming across his issues though, when he started to _realize_ he had issues, he'd stopped being so cooperative. For the last three or four months, he'd been playing with his therapist. He told me about it at night in the common room, when everyone else'd gone to bed.

On the other hand, after they got around to _medicating_ Quatre, he'd settled down into some depression before finding a courtyard with flowerbeds in the center of the complex. He'd planted a splendid garden in the plot they'd given him, and he spent most of his free time looking up tips for weeds and things. The only issue they were having with him was that when he started feeling better, he'd stop taking the meds. He'd had about three of those episodes, so now they were trying to impress on him the importance of the consistency.

Quatre'd been out of it so long that I wished them the best of luck. I knew how to make him comply, but I didn't feel any need to do it when they were pretending like I was just not opening up. They kept trying to insist that things would go faster and easier if I would just…cooperate with them.

It sounded like sweet-talking to me, and I wasn't that easy.

A car drove by, pulling my attention back to the present and the empty lobby. It was about time for me to go in for another session. It was a waste of time and money if you asked me, but they were insisting.

The receptionist usually sat there and watched me. She'd freaked out when I'd first started coming here…three days after getting here, actually.

I wanted to be _free_.

Had I ever been free before? Even way back when I was a child, I'd been part of the family. It'd been war times and we'd been in a war zone. I always had to keep an eye out for something on the horizon…

The receptionist was still gone.

I stared at the little window where the woman usually pretended not to be paying me any mind.

The parking lot was empty…there were no cars on the road. There would be a bus in a few minutes that would go straight back to the central station.

The receptionist was still gone.

I listened to the quiet around me, then smiled slightly.

She was going to be pissed as soon as she realized that the one time she decided to trust me, I took off. She was going to gnaw out her own liver knowing that she'd left me where I _could_ just walk out on her.

Damn, that poor woman. I sniggered slightly to myself…and walked out of the Healing Center.

- -

The flight from London had been extremely unappealing, in Duo's opinion. It had been unappealing _from_ Brazil _to_ London, and the prospect was no better on the way back…only this time they had a two year old _and_ a ten year old.

Of course, Duo wanted to see Indra and Narsi…Mama. Maybe he'd even see Djara again, that was an intriguing thought. He'd loved her once, but she'd been too scared to leave with him when it could have cost her her own life. Turned out to be a good thing, really, because Duo _loved_ Nassaiya, and if Djara had come he'd never have gotten to know her, or had a child with her. He had _loved_ Djara, but he _loved_ Nas.

Anyway, Wufei had noted to Duo that they'd gone to the village, and that they'd questioned the people. Wufei had admitted shame-faced that he'd ordered the entire village killed, and when Nassaiya's eyes had gone wide with horror, he'd explained quickly that if he hadn't done it, Heero would have.

The disturbing thing was that the soldiers would have _done_ it if Heero ordered it.

At any rate, the flight from London to Boa Vista had taken _hours_. When he'd been grumbling about it to his wife, an attendant noted that there'd been a time when it was a twenty-_eight_ hour flight…with six stops.

After the flight itself, of course, was the whole bit where they had to pick up stuff from the delivery place in Manaus and buy some mode of transportation. It was nearly May, when the seasonal monsoon would flood the basin and render all inhabitants boat-ridden. With this in mind, Duo'd arranged a driver to take them from Manaus to the village. He didn't plan to be in the area when the waters arrived, but he wasn't stupid. In the event that the waters did come and the SUV couldn't reach their GPS marked location, the man was going to meet him at a different GPS location that was above the water-level.

Before, when Duo'd initially ran _away_ from Heero, Indra had been at the base. He had been giving Natalie, his sister and Heero's now-girlfriend, a list of things the village needed. Duo'd jumped from one of the windows of the base building and fractured his leg. The buildings were set high up off the ground so the seasonal flooding didn't render them useless. Indra had covered Duo's tracks, then assisted him to his village where his mother had cared for Duo until he'd been in a semblance of health. Months had passed while he lived with the family…which was actually about ten families.

Nassaiya, his now wife, had been a widow in the village. Her son had been seven and her husband had died a year or two before Duo had come on scene. That meant two extra mouths for the people of the village to feed, and had made it hard until Duo'd come and taken the role of father for Vasu. Actually, there'd been three widows in total, and five children between them. His assistance had lifted the village out of the depths and helped them thrive. When he'd left, Nassaiya had tried to get him to take Vasu, so he'd taken them both, thus freeing up the extra pressure on the villagers…and gaining himself a wife. When he'd initially reached Manaus with her, he'd claimed a village elder had performed a marriage ceremony for them, which was completely legal and viable for him to pull off.

After the wars, in After Colony one-nine-eight, the pilots had been on a base in Nanchang…China. Their rights, considering they were different then average citizens, had been laid out in writing. This included the fact that Duo could marry anyone he wanted to in any country, officiated by any local authority…he'd just been fucking around when he'd insisted on it, but it'd turned out to be the best thing to come of that time. His claim and the fact that the villagers hardly had any technology to speak of to keep records, had meant that they couldn't prove or disprove any of it…and even if they tried, someone in the village would step up and say they'd performed the ceremony and it'd be as good as done anyway. So, he'd claimed Nassaiya as his wife and adopted her son in the legal spectrum of the world, along with a Christian wedding to make it all "valid". Or, you know, actually real. He'd moved to London, set up with Hilde Schbleiker, gone through a couple apartments, then found out Nas was pregnant and settled down in the place they'd lived at since.

Speaking of, the two little boys were being extremely good for such a long trip. Vasu was excited to go see the places he kinda remembered, and Camden didn't get half of it. All Cam knew was that his mom and dad were both right there, so it was okay.

"The base is up here, huh?" the driver muttered at him in bad English.

"Yeah," Duo agreed in Portuguese instead. He'd been forced to learn it damn quick when he'd first started living in the village, so he knew the colloquial a lot better than the formal, and had subsequently stopped taking the class Hilde'd talked him into doing. "We don't need to go in as far as the base, though."

"Isn't that your destination?" the guy asked blankly, then thought—probably trying to translate it into English.

"No," Duo disagreed. "I said _toward_ the base so you knew where to drive. We're not here for that. Nas is a basin native, so we're finding our family. Why do you think we marked the GPS?"

The man stared at him in disbelief.

"If I'd just wanted to go to the base, I wouldn't have bothered for pick-up times," Duo added, vaguely annoyed. If he'd been going to the base he wouldn't have bought his own _boat_ either…the thing was _motorized_, and on top of the SUV. He'd had to row a boat across the Amazon River when they'd first taken off. It'd taken over night and had been _hell_ if they found the current, aside from having to tie to a tree so they could _sleep_.

"You remember more than I thought you would," Nas noted, smiling at him from where she was sitting between the two boys. "I thought you'd only remember some."

"I keep hearing it," Duo explained with a slightly proud smile for her. "I can language slip like a fish in water when I've learned it."

The man driving laughed.

The trip continued on, getting more bumpy since there weren't exactly _roads_ where they were heading…and it finally got to a point that Duo realized had been the outer fishing grounds. He'd helped Indra make the boat he'd later used to escape, and gone fishing with him daily for their food…and that tree was the tie point…sort of. The hitching area was remarkably high up when the water was gone…and…

"Aha!" the driver exclaimed happily as they neared a dock area…

But something wasn't right.

Duo and Nas both frowned at the construction that rose off the forest floor…because it was empty.

"Uh-oh," Duo muttered intelligently.

"The only problem with the natives is they wander!" the driver exclaimed, laughing happily as he put the thing in park. "Shall I drop you off here, Mr. Maxwell?"

"Haha," Duo retorted glumly, sliding from the car and looking around.

"They probably moved away from the base," Nas noted, glancing in that direction. "We either need to go find Natalie or go over and see if Djara's family is still there."

Duo hesitated as he remembered carrying Nas and Vasu up the stairs with the flood water nipping at his heels…he'd barely managed that, let alone when Djara's scream had indicated she was being washed away. He'd dove right in after her with a rope around his middle and Indra at hand.

"Come on, Duo," Nas added quietly. "Let's go over to Djara's first."

"Yeah," Duo muttered, climbing back into the car as he stared up at the construction that had saved his _life_.

"If Wufei really did say to have them killed," Nas noted, leaning forward to look at him, "then this is a bad place. Especially if someone was hurt."

"Wufei said they kinda beat the crap out of Indra," Duo conceded.

"They'd want away from here, and away from the base," Nassaiya added quietly.

"Dad?"

Duo looked to Vasu.

"Are we almost there yet? My butt fell asleep."

"I'm sorry, son," Duo muttered, reaching back to pat the boy's leg. "We'll figure this out as soon as we can."

- -

Quatre jumped slightly, realizing the thing _was_ a spider and flicking it away. He hated spiders. He could tell now that Trowa had been fucking with him before, but that didn't mean the stigma had gone away for the eight-legged freaks.

The blond dug his fingers down into the soft earth and grabbed the weed by the root, yanking it from the ground and flicking the excess dirt away before adding the offending plant to his pile carefully, so it wouldn't release any seeds.

"You don't like me anymore, do you?"

Quatre turned his head to look at Heero a long moment, then frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

Heero was rocking as he sat on the bench of a picnic table, looking to his feet. "You always used to talk to me," he noted. "You don't talk to me anymore…you'd rather be with the silent plants than talking to me…"

Quatre didn't know how to respond to that. He really _liked_ gardening. It was quiet, and when you put out the effort, your garden was _beautiful_. He couldn't leave the guy hanging though…

"You need to talk more and real to your therapist," Quatre noted finally. "You need to stop playing with him and do what he says."

Heero's eyes snapped onto his, looking almost betrayed.

"When you do that, I'll talk to you out here."

Heero glared at him, then turned and stormed back toward the building.

Quatre shook his head and looked to his watch. It was nearly time for him to take his meds again. He had to do it in front of the nurse anymore…and they got upset if he was late.

He set the alarm.

- -

Wufei grinned slightly as cars honked at him in aggravation, not bothering to pick up his speed as he crossed the street.

He loved the city.

It hadn't taken him too long to acclimatize himself to the cooler temperatures. He'd been freezing when he'd first gotten to London, but it wasn't so horrible anymore. He knew that he'd get a nasty shock come winter, but he figured the summer would be fine. He wasn't stuck with a couple psychopaths in the middle of a jungle anymore. He wasn't constantly having to watch out for the two he'd had to control. He wasn't confined and constrained. He could do anything he wanted to, and he'd started doing it about a month after they'd found Quatre.

That was the starting point for him. That was when his new life had _really_ started. He'd gone through some de-stress sessions with the therapist and still went once a month, but he didn't need supervised or medicated. He wasn't being followed or watched…and hardly even noticed. He'd gone back to China…Spain, hell, he'd even gone into Egypt. He always made sure to stop by the Healing Center to see Quatre when he got back from these trips, because Quatre had been the one worried about losing them all…and in the depths of his madness he'd been absolutely terrified about the prospect.

Hell, even Duo'd go see him. Actually, Duo'd bought him a rose bush that was thriving, last Wufei knew.

At any rate, things were looking up, and the small pleasures like pissing cars off as you sped down the road on a bike were just entertaining. There was _life_ all around him…people were smiling or frowning…people were joking to one another down the sidewalks…

His phone started ringing and he coasted onto the sidewalk, propping himself slightly against he pole as he noted it was the Healing Center. That generally meant Quatre, Heero, or Trow.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Chang?"

Or their nurse? What?

"…yeah? What's up?"

"Have you spoken with Trowa Barton at all today?"

"No, it's been a week or two," Wufei noted, glancing at his watch.

"And if he were to contact you, would you call us here?"

"Just check your phone records," Wufei noted skeptically.

"I meant in person."

"Considering that you have him there…"

Wufei already knew better than that, though. Her tone was far too pessimistic for that.

"Actually, he never showed up for his appointment today."

"So check his room," Wufei noted pointedly. "Shit, we don't get along. You realize that don't you? Barton and I all but despise each other."

"How about Mr. Maxwell?"

"Duo?" the Chinese man repeated and snorted. "Duo headed to Brazil yesterday to visit his wife's family in the Amazon Basin. He's not due back until later this month."

…and he _does_ despise Trowa.

"Can you verify that he left on time?"

"Aside from him calling me at some god-awful hour this morning to let me know he'd landed, no. Check the flight manifests. He set down in Boa Vista and his next stop is Manaus. He should probably be out in the jungle by this point."

"It should be obvious to you that we've checked the compound."

"It's not my problem," Wufei informed her. "I have nothing to do with him or his choices. I will not assist or detain him if he arrives in my presence. I will tell him to go back to you, though. How does that work?"

"Mr. Chang…"

Wufei laughed a bit at that. "It's _not_ my problem, and I'm not going to _make_ it my problem. Good luck finding him, though. Chances are you'll never see him again."

She guffawed at that.

"Good day, Ma'am," Wufei added, looking to the buildings around him, and closing his phone. He thought a long moment and sighed in consternation. He'd almost _quit_ smoking…he'd gotten down to one a week and was about to just end it…and now he wanted another one.

Wufei slid his phone into his pocket and rubbed at his face a moment, then pushed off again.

It wasn't his problem.


	2. Like a Dream

**Like a Dream**

"Djara! Djara!"

The girls of the village were swarming as they realized it was Duo sliding from the SUV. The men folk, who'd moved forward to protect their people if they had to, settled back to study him warily. He hadn't made a habit of visiting their village, but most had considered him to be the future husband of the girl he'd left behind.

It was kind of a depressing thought, actually.

Nassaiya moved to her husband, grabbing his hand as Vasu tried to walk around in spite of his tired and sore muscles.

The dark haired girl moved quickly down the dock, climbing down the stairs to stare at Duo.

"Hey," Duo muttered, smiling at her. "How are you?"

"Oi," she muttered, moving forward to touch his face.

"He's not your husband," another male noted pointedly, moving down the stairs with an angry expression.

"He's _my_ husband," Nassaiya noted pointedly to the man.

Djara dropped her hand, giving the man a look, then turned back to Duo again.

"Married?" he asked her curiously, not sure exactly how he was feeling about the development. On the one hand, he absolutely adored Nassaiya and Vasu…and Cam…but on the other, he'd never intended to _leave_ Djara behind.

She nodded, then moved forward to hug him tightly. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be sorry," he returned, hugging her tightly and kissing her cheek.

The man that was either a brother or her husband tsked.

"Oh try me," Duo threatened, meeting his eyes. "I'm not here to take her, so get over it."

The man moved forward and reached for her.

"You want me to kick your ass, don't you?" Duo demanded, turning slightly so the girl was out of reach. "Where is her village?" he added, indicating Nas.

"What?" the guy asked blankly.

Duo pointed to his old village. "Where did it go?"

The man stared at him.

"Oh," Djara pulled away to meet his eyes. "Indra and them?"

Duo nodded.

"That way," Djara explained, pointing toward the thickest part of the jungle. It was the kind of area where the boats would have to float in single-file, and now that it was indicated, Duo could remember Indra saying they'd move the village that way if they had to.

"How are you?" Nassaiya muttered, moving forward to hug the girl. "Are you well?"

"I'm good," Djara returned, pointing toward the top of the dock where a baby girl was sitting on the stairs. She looked to be older than Camden, but not by much.

"Oh! She's precious!" Nassaiya cooed, moving forward to look up at the girl better.

"Her name is Iara," Djara noted as the little girl smiled widely down at her.

"She's beautiful," Duo muttered, feeling another sting of sadness.

That could be his daughter…not that he didn't love Vasu or Cam. It was more a…nostalgic emotion. Something like hearing a song that reminded you of a time you had fun when that person was gone.

"She's my daughter," the man informed Duo.

Duo met his eyes, then turned back to the SUV and picked up Camden, who'd been attempting to crawl out of the thing anyway. He carried the little boy back to the group, meeting the man's eyes. "This is my son."

"Oh!" Djara's eyes went wide as she took the boy. Camden was startled, but not bothered as he looked back at his father curiously.

Duo could see something of his own thought process in Djara's eyes, and that made him feel better.

"We've been living in London," Nassaiya informed Djara, taking Cam from her and setting him down. He looked around with interest, then turned to move around the SUV to find his big brother. "We have an apartment with running water."

"No!" Djara protested, rising to that bait. "You do not!"

"And sewer!" Nassaiya agreed with a naughty giggle. "And they come pick up our trash!"

"Ah!" Djara allowed some frustration to show, but she and Nassaiya had been friends before. This was more a game for them, while it made Djara's husband look rather unpleased…which made Duo feel petty, because he was feeling proud.

"And I have money," Nas added, bouncing where she was standing. "I can walk down the street and buy anything I want."

"Almost…anything?" Djara asked a bit pointedly.

"No, anything," Nas giggled wickedly. "He works for the government and had money anyway…so we have this nice huge apartment…kinda makes you wish you'd come, huh?"

Djara wrinkled her nose at that.

"I could have used you there at first," Nas added a bit petulantly. "It was hard to learn the language, but I speak English now, too."

Djara smiled at that, hugging the girl again.

"Do you know who he _is_?" Nas whispered, looking back at Duo a moment. "He's one of those pilots! The ones from the wars? He flew one of those mobile suits and _everyone_ was scared of him!"

…that was an interesting way to look at it.

Duo allowed his surprise to register as he realized the basin natives wouldn't have really heard overly much about the wars. Their information would have come from the base, and the soldiers of the base wouldn't have been worried about his _name_ so much as his _machine_.

Djara stared at her, then looked back to Duo.

"He saved the world, Djara," Nas added quietly as the man looked Duo over with a certain amount of respect. "He…he's a hero…"

"And I could have married him," Djara noted quietly. Duo almost didn't hear it, and figured her husband hadn't. At least Duo hoped he hadn't, because it was all well and good for him to think it a little bit, but her saying it made her actual marriage seem less.

"You wouldn't have made it," Nas returned, looking down. "We were moving so fast at first…and he just told everyone I was his wife…but when we got to London we had a _real_ ceremony…the Christian kind. It was hard at first…and kinda scary…and then okay…but then they showed up," she looked toward the base. "About six months ago they showed up and…" she looked back to the other woman and shook her head. "You're much better off here."

The comment seemed off-hand enough, but Duo's stomach dropped completely to hear his wife say that.

Wasn't she happy with him? Didn't she like London? He always asked her if she wanted to move, but she'd never said more than she wanted to see her family again. They were actually going to try to find her mother after they visited with Indra, because her own husband had died and she'd married into another group.

He cast around quickly, trying to think of something to say as Djara accepted Nassaiya's words, noticing that the woman's skirt was ripped and the hem was stained.

"Hey," Duo muttered, "Djara, come here…"

She gave him a startled look, then turned to follow him as Nas moved to check on the boys.

He led her around the SUV and popped the hatch, digging into a box of skirts he'd ordered. He was taking them to Indra's family group, but he knew he could spare one. He dug out one that looked like it would fit her and offered it to her.

She smiled, taking it from him as she noticed the rest of the box and met his eyes.

"Here," he added, digging into baby clothes until he found some toddler sized t-shirts. He grabbed out a couple pink ones…one that would fit Iara now and one that she could grow into, passing those over as well.

"Thank…you," Djara muttered, studying the things and frowning slightly at him. Considering that he had as much stuff in it as he did, she didn't understand why he wasn't giving her more. She didn't want to be ungrateful, but…

"Dad?"

Duo turned to look at Vasu, who was carefully leading Cam back to the truck. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah, son," Duo muttered, closing the hatch and turning to scoop up the toddler. "Get back in…I think I know where we need to go now," he added to the driver, who'd been leaning against the hood of the vehicle. "Come on, Nas," he added, pulling Djara into another hug. "Indra told me where he wanted to build before, so we can figure it out."

"Okay," Nas hugged Djara tightly. "Take care of your baby," she muttered, then slid into the SUV as Duo sat Cam back in his chair. The toddler started whining at him as the driver got in, and he shut the door quickly.

"Duo," Nas protested.

"Sorry, I didn't want him to get out," Duo muttered, turning to hug Djara again and kiss her eyelids. "Take care, Djara."

Djara stared at him a long moment before she nodded and stepped back. The thing hadn't gone as she'd planned it at all. She'd expected more regret from him, and even more from herself. She'd dreamed of him, and daydreamed of him and always wondered if he'd come back for her…and their reunion had…almost seemed uncomfortable.

Duo slid into the car again as his cell phone started ringing. He indicated where the driver needed to head and hit the button. "Hello?"

"Hey, Duo," Wufei muttered tiredly. "You hear from Trowa lately?"

Duo guffawed at that, waving back at the villagers as they started away. "No…I haven't. Why?"

"He walked out of the Healing Center earlier…within the last hour or two."

Duo sniggered evilly. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope," Wufei returned happily. "Every fifteen minutes or so I keep getting calls from the people legally responsible for him."

"What?" Nassaiya asked.

"Trowa decided he didn't like the rehab center and walked out," Duo shrugged at her. "The people there seem to think he'll talk to Wufei."

"Won't he?"

"Not hardly," Duo returned, focusing again. "Check on my apartment sometime tonight, huh? If he's there make him leave. We're having fun."

"Oh, yeah?" Wufei asked curiously. He'd noticed the sarcasm, even though it'd been subtle.

"Yep, your stunt with ordering the villagers shot put some sort of stigma on the place so they left it…well, that and the shit that happened to poor Indra. We get to play tracker."

"Ooh, fun," Wufei noted happily. He thought a long moment and sighed. "Can you stop at the base and make sure the song-bird knows what's going on?"

"Song-bird?" Duo asked blankly, then remembered the story. "Oh, shit…why?"

"Because as far as I know, no one's contacted her. She's…kinda his girl, you know? Maybe get her to write him a letter or something."

"Why should I care about _his_ mental health?" Duo snapped, irritated.

"Because you're a bigger man than that," Wufei snapped back. "Sure, it was fucked up…what happened…it was just… Duo, you're bigger than that."

Duo looked away.

"How hard will it be, really?"

"I'm not going to that base," Duo informed his friend sharply, and snapped the phone closed. If Heero's little girlfriend didn't know what was happening, he could deal with it. Duo hadn't liked her anyway, and if the rehab center couldn't find Trowa, _they_ could deal with it. Trowa was as good as gone. There was no point worrying about him anymore.

Duo was no longer connected to that past.

- -

Heero curled up even more in his window, staring out at the bushes that framed it. He couldn't quite see the street. As soon as the people had realized Trowa had disappeared, he and Quatre had both been put in their rooms with a guard outside.

Normally, you couldn't treat a person against their will. Unfortunately, the shit from Nanchang hadn't been as happy-for-them as Heero had recalled. It had been summed up with the fact that they _could_ be held against their will if their superiors thought it was necessary.

It was barely any better than prison.

It wasn't fair. Heero had realized that he'd treated Duo badly, but he didn't think it was bad enough for _this_. Of course, he hadn't realized Duo was scared of him, and that thought still upset him…but…

They wouldn't even let him call Natalie.

The room was cold, but Heero ignored that.

What was Trowa doing? He was the one that made sure Heero agreed to sit through any of this shit…he'd made sure Quatre had gotten in and been seen right quick…but now he left?

It was hard. First he was a tyrant and now he was worthless. Not even Quatre wanted him…so what was the point? Did Natalie want him? Did Natalie love him or was she just scared of him? Was everyone scared of him?

Heero curled tighter where he was sitting, feeling himself shiver slightly. He wanted to go _home_. He wanted to get back to the base where Natalie was…

Why wouldn't they let him call Nat? He missed her, he missed hearing her sing. That would be nice…to hear her singing again…he pressed his face against the cool glass, focusing on a bush near him. It was April…by May, the rains would thicken into flooding.

Were the men ready for the boats? Had they checked to make sure the boats were sealed and stable? Had they changed the oil or checked the blades? Cleaned out the gunk and made sure there were no large branches under the base that might get mixed up in the fleet? He hated not being there to confirm everything was ready and that the food stores were stable. He hated that he'd only intended to go for a week and ended up being stuck in London for six months…it wasn't right. He was supposed to be in charge of that base, not stuck in some "healing center" that was doing nothing for him but making him stress.

They kept telling him that they'd let him go once they thought he was ready, so what did they consider ready? Why did they insist on making him remember things he'd gladly forgotten? His childhood had been fucked up; did they really need the details? They knew he felt bad for what he'd done to Duo. It had taken until he was fighting with the man in a back alley for him to realize he'd done wrong, couldn't they just let him apologize and leave it alone? He wasn't going to do it again…

He wanted to talk to Natalie.

The Japanese man slid out of the window and moved onto his bed, curling under the blankets. He was…tired. There was no reason to be awake…and maybe if he was asleep, people would leave him alone.

- -

I couldn't stop smiling.

I moved out of the bank with my rather large briefcase of cash. The bank people had been very upset that I'd withdrawn it all in cash, but I'd paid them a specialty rate for such services for years. I'd had a special sort of account that was set-up so I _could_ just drag out my cash and move on, so they couldn't fight me on it.

It had all been so easy. I had some bills in my wallet from before anyway, so after walking from the Healing Center, I'd just wandered down to the bus-stop and got on when the bus showed up a minute or two later. From there I'd visited the bus-central station…a convenience store that happened to have sunglasses. From there to the bank, and now on down to a corner restaurant to get a bite to eat before remaking myself.

I moved into the little corner restaurant happily and set my briefcase down at the end of the bar, taking that stool.

"Hello," the woman muttered, moving up to me. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Pepsi," I returned, studying their menu. "…ooh, and a pasty."

She smiled happily at that and turned up the bar.

It was nice to sit alone somewhere and know that no one was paying me any mind. It was nice to know that I had a large sum of money and no ties. I could do anything, pretty much as soon as I changed my hair color…and shape. Eye color for good measure, and maybe pick a fight so someone broke my nose…

"Here you go, poppet," the woman muttered, setting a cup down in front of me with a sweet smile.

I smiled back, appreciating the affection, if only because she looked old enough to be my mother. I liked women who had kids that were my age. They were pleasant to deal with.

The pasty…was delicious. It was hot and rich…and very filling. It was the best thing I'd ever tasted with that ice cold Pepsi. It was even nicer that there was a TV in one corner and she kept refilling my glass. She didn't care that I was savoring the food…she was getting a healthy tip.

The door opened behind me as I finished off my drink. In keeping with my own decision, I pulled out a large wad of bills, setting that down…and felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned to look at the man curiously.

"Mr. Barton…can you come with me, please?"

…he was kidding, right?

He grabbed me by the arm, starting to pull me, and I bent down to grab my briefcase quickly. He gave me a disbelieving look and pulled me again…so I fell over.

I didn't know how to react to suddenly being on my ass, and looked around in disbelief before meeting his eyes.

"Mr. Barton," he hissed, like it was _my_ fault.

Oh, fuck that.

I grabbed the briefcase and jumped to my feet, hitting him with the thing, stepping back as I waited for whatever his return would be. He was startled, and there was an expression of almost fear on his face.

I shoved him onto _his_ ass before he could actually gather his thoughts, turning to the woman who was staring at us in disbelief. "I apologize, ma'am," I muttered. "I've left my payment," I added…and walked from the building.

It took moments for the man to be after me again, and I turned down an alley irritably.

"Mr. Barton," he snapped, "you're not cleared to be out here."

"Cleared my ass," I retorted, and kept moving.

He hesitated.

"Get out of here," I added, turning on him. "I'd rather not get caught and your presence immediately invalidates that aim."

"You need to come with me," he persisted, moving closer. He had a sort of wary expression on his face that suggested uncertainty.

If he really _thought_ I'd go with him, that was the wrong approach; contrarily, if he didn't think I'd go with him, why bother with an exercise of futility?

"You're needed back at the center," he hazarded. He obviously had no idea how to deal with me—at the same time, who did?

"Sure I am," I returned easily, starting to walk again. "Whatever you say."

He hesitated again, obviously thinking very quickly before catching up. "Please, sir, your superiors have asked it."

"What?" I demanded, turning to stare at him in disbelief. "You expect me to believe that shit? Get _away_ from me."

He moved forward…and grabbed my arm.

I turned and decked him.

E/N: Hehe, thanks for the review, Hawk.


	3. Bombastic Minutia

**Bombastic Minutia**

Quatre watched the man who was reporting about finding Trowa with interest. The man had gotten his ass _kicked_. He was spouting nonsense about a look on Trowa's face, something about war flashbacks.

The blond knew very well that Trowa did not suffer from extensive post traumatic stress. Trowa was an asshole. The look on his face wasn't actually a look, or more correctly, it wasn't an altered look. The expression the man was referring to was the patented disbelief expression that Trowa directed at anyone who thought they knew better than he.

It was kind of funny to hear the man bemoan the attack, though.

He focused quickly back on his weeding before anyone realized he was listening. He wasn't getting himself involved in Trowa's shit. Trowa was as good as gone. They'd lost him and he'd only come back on his _own_ agenda. He wasn't going to get roped into the search anymore than he'd checked Trowa's room and seen the laptop still sitting there. The chip inside the machine that was linked to the Winner-family satellite was nigh-onto priceless. If someone else found that satellite was still active, they could make a fortune on it, or bring down heavy fines on the Winner family. The family could afford it, of course, but it was a black-mark that wouldn't be happy and would probably cause extensive examination of all the family satellites. That was time consuming, and would make a public issue of a private matter. Before the workers at the Center could completely realize the machine was there, Quatre had reclaimed "his" laptop. He'd given it to Trowa before. He had the thing in his own bedroom, out of sight.

Actually, that hurt Quatre's feeling slightly. The laptops had been so they could always find each other, and if Trowa really thought Quatre or Heero would give over their secret, he was wrong.

Of course, there was the possibility that Trowa'd just had his moment and seized it, which hadn't given him the means to go back to his room and grab the thing.

It didn't matter anyway, because Quatre wasn't so sure he wanted to find Trowa again. He hated to think it, but Trowa had a cruel streak in him that had added to his own illness. He knew very well that if Trowa hadn't meddled as long as he had, then he himself would have gotten the medication he needed. Further, Heero would have been knocked down a rung or two and would have gotten help well before Duo ran away if Trowa hadn't been playing.

That made Quatre's stomach sour, because he'd treated Duo very badly…and without reason. He remembered very clearing holding a lit cigarette and seeing Duo's exposed forearm. He wasn't sure how that translated to him pressing the thing to the other's arm, but it had. He hadn't only done it once, either, and Duo'd had no where to turn to get away from the abuse. That was just one of many little things that he'd done without realizing what he was really doing.

The fact that Duo still came to talk to him made the guilt ten times worse.

Quatre rubbed at his forehead a moment as he studied the rose bush, then frowned and looked to his watch as the alarm went off…and stared at it. "Fuck," he snarled, jumping to his feet and turning on the people behind him. "Where the fuck are my pills?"

They stared at him.

"You don't let _me_ keep them," he added in aggravation, moving to the group. "I can't take them on time when you're busy and I'd rather _not_ lose my damn mind again."

"Oh…uh…" the receptionist turned to lead him back into the building as the director gave him a very level look.

Quatre didn't care. He never wanted to feel that distraction again.

- -

"Hello," a chipper woman greeted me as I moved into a salon. According to her nametag, she was Nancy. "What can we do for you?"

"I want a trim," I returned happily, "some styling…and to go black."

She tilted her head at me, then smiled more. "Black? Why black?"

"I dunno, my hair is dark," I shrugged, touching it slightly.

"You'd look good blond, you know."

Blond? That _was_ a thought.

"We could do your eyebrows, huh? Make your eyes pop."

"Ooh, let's do reds," a second woman muttered, her nametag proclaimed her Charity. She bounced forward to look me over and touch my hair. "Would you like to be red? Maybe a bit of…what do you want to do?"

"I want to look different," I returned, smiling at her. "I want to look like a whole new man."

She smiled back, turning to Nancy happily before dragging me after her into the styling area. She started with a wash, and I wondered if there was some way I could make her hurry the fuck up. I could hear the news on in the lobby, and didn't have high hopes that me just walking out of the Center would be ignored. Of course, that dumb ass had gotten in my way, and I'd bruised him up a little...or a lot, depending on if not killing him or permanently wounding him counted... That might bother people, too. I wanted to be away from here before she realized who I was and turned me in.

The process of dying my hair into shades of red didn't take too horribly long, and she trimmed it all up slightly, despite me telling her I wanted my hair _changed_.

Actually, doing the red didn't make me look nearly as different as I wanted to look.

I played it off happily as not to keep myself in their memories, and paid with an average tip. The waitress who provided good service was one thing, but this was something else entirely.

I stepped back into the fading sunlight, glad I could still pull off the sunglasses until night-fall. I was a little hungry, but I didn't really want another man to accost me where I was eating.

What I needed to do now was get to the black-district without drawing attention to myself so I could get some new identification. Then I could get me a hacker-proof account like Duo's. That would be ideal, because it'd keep me from having to worry about anyone watching my accounts.

I moved onto a bus, grabbing up a schedule as I sat and opening it up to see the map. I knew the black district of London only by word of mouth. Manaus had a healthy underground movement, which made it simple for me to get things while at the base, and some of my contacts had mentioned an area of London where I.D.s could be bought. They weren't cheap, but they got many people across borders, and that was really what I needed to do. I needed to get out of the U.K. entirely, and either go to China or Africa…maybe India. I'd go back to Brazil if it weren't entirely stupid of me to do, because the climate agreed with me.

A bus transfer here, a bus transfer there…and another salon.

I really didn't like my hair.

"I want to change my hair drastically," I noted to a woman with a nose-piercing. "Something extreme."

"Like what, black?" she asked, raising her eyebrow slightly.

"Or blond," I agreed. "Something different."

"Not brown?"

Now that was an ingenious idea.

I gave her a look.

She sighed in exasperation, leading me toward the styling area. Considering that it was nearly closing time, I could tell she wanted to close.

"I just had this done," I noted, touching my hair as she thought. "The red was just put in an hour ago…at the most."

That made her react…at least raise an eyebrow.

"Just so you don't utterly fry my hair," I noted.

"Go bald," she retorted.

"Strip and I will."

She gave me a look, and I returned it. Our conversation continued in that acidic vein as she went about changing my color to a nice ashen black. She kept threatening to _make_ me bald when I'd annoyed her with the cutting part, but I couldn't bring myself to be bothered.

"Close your eyes," she snapped when she'd actually gotten to the part with my eyebrows. "Jesus, you ever hear of plucking?"

"I leave it to the women," I retorted. "I figure giving them something else to torture me with will lessen other aggravations…ouch, shit…"

She laughed delightedly at that, plucking the area between my eyebrows. She was thoroughly enjoying herself well before she got to applying the dye, and by the time she considered me done, she was in an utterly pleasant mood.

The effect was…downright jaw-dropping. I hadn't cut my hair in a long enough time that I could nearly pull it into pony-tail…before. The first dye and cut job had shortened it up to almost a normal boy length…and this really had. It was short and spiked. It made my face look more round and not quite as long, if that made any sense, and the fact that the eyebrows matched it made my face look different—of course, her plucking helped that, too.

"Wow," I muttered, touching it slightly.

"Don't mess it up already," she retorted. "It's thirty, ten tip."

I passed her a couple bills, looking back to myself in the mirror.

The only problem was my eye color. "What time does the mall close?" I muttered, meeting her eyes.

"Take me dancing and I'll tell you."

I smirked at that, tilting my head at her. "Fickle bitch."

"Cocky asshole," she returned happily.

"What's your name?"

"What's it matter?"

"I just wanna know what to call you tonight," I noted almost suggestively, tilting my head slightly.

Her eyes flashed almost evilly at that. "There's a mall about three blocks away, it's open for another few hours."

"It got an eye center?"

"Eye?"

"I want contacts."

Her expression changed to wary as she considered me a moment, then looked toward her television screen.

"Don't think I'm above killing you," I purred.

"Don't think I won't just run off screaming now," she retorted, narrowing her eyes at me.

"And what? I'll disappear into the night and you'll never see me again."

"You're not mentally stable."

"No, I'm an apathetic asshole," I returned pointedly. "I have issues of trust stemming from a childhood from hell and the teen years of the damned. It's not worth giving a damn about people and for some reason the psychologists at that Center can't seem to work their minds around the fact that I don't _care_."

"You didn't have to run like that…and that man you hurt…"

"He started it," I noted, shrugging. "I was going to go with him and talk it out, but he freaked out on me and knocked me over…then tried to chase me down."

"Talk it over?" she asked dryly.

I smirked at that, tucking my wallet away. "I don't see what the big deal is anyway."

"Having stress flashbacks kinda make you a possible threat."

"Flashbacks?" I repeated, giving her a disbelieving look. "I'm not the one who has flashbacks…Winner does when he's off his meds."

"The man you attacked said you were acting like you were on a mission."

I stared at her in disbelief.

"He said you only reacted when he used authority."

I snorted in disbelief. "I only _reacted_ when he was claiming authority. He was just some nobody trying to throw rank at me like it even mattered. Besides, I worked alone in the wars. No one had authority over me."

She narrowed her eyes at me.

I shrugged at her. "Look at it this way, if I were a danger you'd have gotten hurt. I'm leaving now, and if you don't want me to do something to this building on my way out I suggest you forget I was here."

"Bastard."

"Bitch," I returned, smiling at her before turning away.

"Why did you just run off?"

"I only stayed at that base because Yuy and Winner needed to be controlled," I retorted. "Winner as some schizophrenic tendencies and Yuy has some serious issues from his childhood that make him incapable of interacting like a normal and human adult. He wasn't meant for peace times, so he can't deal with them. He's always at war, and since he was always at war he always needed someone to redirect him. The pair were dangers and I stayed with them to keep them from hurting themselves or anyone else." There was some serious truth behind these words, but it wasn't the only reason I'd stayed with them. Wufei'd had the pair quite well controlled.

I'd stayed to fuck with Wufei.

Maybe I did have some other issues that needed worked out, maybe I should have sat with the therapist and offered responses, but that Center hadn't seemed safe to me. None of the people working in it had acted like we might be normal humans.

"The people at that Center think I'm hiding some deep dark issue that'd make me snap and take over the world or something. They just don't realize I don't have the motivation for that type of shit. It takes _way_ too much effort to mobilize and lead an army, even with the other pilots on hand. Shit happened that shouldn't have, and I didn't stop it. They think that means I had a huge part in it, but I didn't have much to do with it at all. I'm done trying to convince them otherwise."

She frowned at me.

"I'm leaving," I added pointedly, starting to back away again. I wanted to know if my rant had swayed her at all, but she remained expressionless as I headed out the door.

The bus that was at the bus-stop waited until I was on it before taking off again, and I saw that woman standing in the door to her salon.

I might have just gotten caught before I could do a damn thing but eat lunch.

- -

"I told them," Charity muttered to Nancy, biting at her nail. "They're sending an officer here so we can make statements…I feel horrible. He said he wanted to look like a whole new man…"

"It just sounded like he wanted a make-over," Nancy protested, biting her lip as well. "We had no way to know who he was or why he came in…there's nothing to do. At least they know to look for him with red hair."

"Yeah," Charity agreed, moving to sit by the television screen as well. "At least we saw their report."

Nancy nodded, and the pair settled in to wait for the officer.

- -

"Oi!" Indra's happy shout rang through the trees. "Nassaiya! …Narsi! Mama! Oi is back!"

Duo laughed happily, moving instantly to hug the man as the entire village cried out in pleasure.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Duo looked up at the acidic voice and blinked at the woman who'd made it necessary for him to run the way he had.

_Well_, Duo thought, _I don't have to go to the base to have her write Heero._

"Natalie," Indra muttered, frowning up at her.

"You're not welcome in my home," Natalie informed the former pilot.

"Then the day I die will be his last day," Mama informed the girl darkly. "You cannot say who is welcome in _my_ home and who is not. Don't rise above yourself."

"When I stop bringing in money," Natalie snapped, "I'll listen…"

Mama slapped her.

"Natalie, please," Nassaiya muttered in annoyance as she took Cam from the car.

Indra focused on the boy, then met Duo's eyes in disbelief.

Duo smiled proudly at him, taking Camden from his wife to pass him to Indra.

"Hey, he's _my_ baby," Nas protested, then giggled when Indra looked between them. "We said we were married so we could go into the American embassy," she explained. "Then when we got to London we had a Christian ceremony."

"You _are_ married?" Indra demanded, smirking at his old friend.

"It's my son," Duo noted, then turned to look at Vasu, who was standing at the SUV. "Come on, son, you know Indra."

"Wow," Indra muttered as Narsi darted around her brother to hug Duo tightly.

"Look at you," Duo muttered, touching her hair. "You're ready to be married, aren't you?"

Narsi laughed at that, darting over to hug Nassaiya. The village boys, who'd been Vasu's friends, were moving forward to look at him uncertainly. The fact that he'd been as young as he had when they'd left had made him uncertain, but on seeing those old friends his face lit right up.

"Vasu!" one of the older boys shouted…and pandemonium broke out as they all met in the middle and started shouting at each other. Duo wasn't entirely sure why they needed to shout like that, but it seemed to be needed.

The women, meanwhile, were coming down the stairs from either dock—there were two. Nassaiya reclaimed Camden from Indra…and darted to join them.

Duo smiled slightly at that as the men moved to where they could nod at Duo approvingly.

"Mark this spot," Duo ordered the man who'd driven them in. "Remember, two weeks. If the waters comes and I don't show up at the dry spot, send people out here to check on me…come on, Indra," he added. "Help me get our shit out."

"What did you bring?" Indra asked, admiring the boat.

"Clothes, non-perishables…more clothes," Duo grinned. "I've got some other stuff in here, too. We couldn't come back empty handed, now."

Indra laughed at that, then tilted his head at Duo. "What is your name?"

The question had never been asked before.

"I'm Duo," Duo replied, offering his hand with a grin. "Duo Maxwell."

Indra nodded approvingly at that and pulled him into a hug. After a moment, he turned and gestured to the various men of the village.

This was going to take minutes, and then Duo would have two _weeks_ to visit with his family.

Natalie was the only person who seemed upset by this, but Duo was far from caring.

He considered Indra's home-group his own home group…

…and then he spotted Nassaiya's brother. The moment they met eyes, they grinned wickedly at each other. Before, when Duo had just been taking care of the widows, the man had tried to insist that he marry Nas. The idea had scared him at the time, considering he'd had two relationships at the most, but the idea had been a good one.

"I married your sister, happy?" Duo teased.

The man laughed and moved to hug him.

"Let's get this unloaded," Duo added, looking around at the smiling faces.

He'd only been that happy three times before. Once when he'd gotten married, once when he'd legally adopted Vasu and could _say_ the boy was his own, and once when Nassaiya had given birth to his child.

"I'm still calling you Oi," Indra informed him. "I don't need ghost names."

"Ghost names?" Duo asked, wondering if his understanding of the language had really diminished.

"Long dead gods," Indra agreed, smirking at him proudly. "I got a book on the pilots after Yuy left. I know who you are now."

Duo smirked at that. "I'm the god of death, not a dead god."

Indra snorted at him.

"…Mr. Maxwell?"

Duo looked to Natalie, who was moving closer with wide eyes as something obviously occurred to her.

"…do you know where Heero is?"

_Where?_ Duo wondered blankly, then smirked slightly. "In a crazy house back at London." There was a vaguely vindictive pleasure in saying the words. "The manager said they'd tried calling the base to talk to you but you had left. Didn't someone find you?"

She frowned at him, her eyes going completely hurt and uncertain.

…the petty emotion melted away, and Duo pulled out his cell phone. He pulled the girl with him toward a dock-end as he dialed the Health Center.

"Have you heard from Barton?" the woman asked instantly.

Duo'd actually forgotten about Trowa. He snorted slightly. "He won't contact me unless his life is in danger," he noted. "I need Yuy."

"What?"

"I need to talk to Yuy," Duo repeated. "Hurry up."

She hesitated, then put him on hold.

"What's going on?" Natalie asked uncertainly. "I don't understand enough English."

"Duo?" Heero asked in confusion.

"Hey, fucker, tell Wufei I'm a bigger man." He passed the phone to Natalie.

"Hello?" Natalie asked uncertainly.

Duo walked away.


	4. New Redemption

**New Redemption**

Megan watched the bus pull away from the bus-stop and wondered briefly if she really needed to call it in. He really had seemed normal. His reasoning seemed sound, too. She turned tiredly and closed the door, flipping the closed sign before turning-up the blinds and flicking off the lighting. That done, she moved to her television and flipped it on. 

"Now, concerning the case of the former Gundam Pilot," the anchor was saying, "we have just received news that Trowa Barton has dyed his hair red." 

Megan smirked at that as it showed an image that looked somewhat like the man had when he'd first come in. 

"From extensive post traumatic stress, he, like Quatre Winner," it flashed to another pilot, "seems to be suffering from war-time flashbacks…" 

They went on, of course, with how his mental state was unstable and he'd attacked an unknown amount of people earlier in the day. They were playing him up to be extensively dangerous, and it flashed to some woman from the Healing Center. 

Megan considered the story, then looked toward the front door of her establishment. 

She wasn't turning him in. She wasn't telling them that she'd changed his hair. It would do her no particular good and just piss _him_ off. 

She started to clean up her shop. 

- - 

Heero's heart was pounding in his chest as he hugged one of the pillows from his bed tightly. 

Natalie missed him. She _missed_ him…she wasn't scared of him…and _Duo_ had taken the time to _call_ so he could _talk_ to her. Sure, he'd sounded upset or something…but he'd done it. 

The former pilot had a knot in his stomach, knowing that the area around the base was extremely cut-off from the outside world. If Natalie hadn't been at the base when the news broke that he'd been picked up, she wouldn't have had any way to find out what had happened to him. He'd been stuck in that damn building for six months, almost praying, that she not think him so horrible…and she hadn't even known. 

He felt horrible that she hadn't known what happened to him for _that_ long. 

He needed to get back to her. 

Heero rolled onto his back, still hugging the pillow as he thought about it, then sat up and looked around, darting to his door and tossing the pillow back. 

"Mr. Yuy," an orderly muttered, looking up from where he'd been sitting and reading. 

"I can come out, right?" Heero asked, not moving through the door. 

The man was startled by that since the last time Heero'd wanted to go out, he'd done just that. He'd completely dismissed anything any of them were trying to say. The guy nodded. "I have to stay with you, though." 

"Come on, then…do you know where Quatre is?" 

Again the man was startled. Heero'd been moving around in a very closed off manner, and had seemed very tired. He didn't look so tired now, the guy would even call him energetic. "Last I knew he was with his flowers." 

"Okay," Heero muttered, bouncing down the hall and into the courtyard. 

"What's up?" Quatre asked, turning to look at him. 

"Duo called," the Japanese male returned, moving to sit in the grass beside his friend with his legs crossed. "Guess what?" 

"He…called you a fucker?" Quatre hazarded, grinning slightly. 

"That, too," Heero smiled. "Natalie was with her village." 

Quatre stopped shoveling the dirt around to settle on his own haunches, looking back to Heero. "I thought they wouldn't let you talk to her." 

Heero shrugged. "She hasn't been at the base anyway. She said she only stayed until the night after we left, then she headed back to her village. They don't have a phone." 

The blond wondered if he should point out the comment as a stupid statement, but there was something like a fragile bubble around his friend and he didn't have the heart to break it. He nodded. 

"So…Duo said something about being a bigger man," that made him frown. He'd like to think that Duo'd forgiven him on some level, but he had a feeling it was something else. "He wants me to tell Wufei he's a bigger man," Heero added, looking down. 

"Don't worry about it," Quatre suggested, tilting his head. "What's the song-bird been up to?" 

As he hoped, the question sent Heero flying into a recital of the entire conversation. 

He just hoped the man wouldn't get _too_ personal with it. 

- - 

Nassaiya was happy. She'd missed the village life while in the city. She missed the simple pleasures like sweet rolls, or the sound of the children laughing. It was a lot quieter, less busy, and by far less stressful. It wasn't like her job as an assistant was hard. She knew the government building perfectly fine and while she didn't have a full working understanding of English, she knew a lot. It was the language they spoke at home. 

Not only was it nice to be in the village, though, but she was also with her family…her brothers and sister. She'd missed Thiago the most. After Davi had died, Thiago had made sure she was taken care of on top of his wife and kids. When Duo had initially started to feed her and Vasu consistently he'd chased her down to see if they were interested in each other at all. Nas hadn't not been, but Duo hadn't been pursuing it. The man had let it stand for a while, but Nas had later heard of her brother insisting to Indra. She'd been embarrassed at the time, because Duo had been with Djara… 

What a bucket of trouble. 

Nassaiya smiled slightly as she rocked Camden, her cheek pressed to his soft hair. The two year old wasn't so sure what he thought about a house with no walls. She and Duo had thought ahead enough to know that he might want to watch some of his normal shows, and considering that everything he knew had been uprooted for the trip, they'd decided to buy a small satellite television and portable DVD player. When it had started on toward bed time, Duo had set the boy up with a movie and held him until he'd gotten drowsy, and Nas had taken him. 

Vasu was happy. Vasu remembered most of the village life, and he had all sorts of tales to tell his friends about living in a big city. They were on the ground, laughing and joking and having fun…Vasu was going to crash hard when she finally got him to lay down. 

At any rate, Nassaiya had chased Duo off toward Indra since the man was working on a boat and had kept glancing toward the huts. 

She'd forgotten how close Duo had been to Indra, actually. The reality that Indra had _saved_ Duo when he'd joined the village hadn't seemed prominent until she saw Indra debating if he wanted to finish his work or not. 

Nassaiya smiled slightly as Duo's laugh echoed over the encampment…followed by other male voices. 

She had a feeling she didn't want to know what had been said to incite _that_ laugh in all of them, but she wasn't going to deny that hearing it was pleasant. 

She sighed and set Camden down gently on the mattress. She turned the oil lamp down enough that it wasn't a blaring beacon, and set it on the table with the portable. 

Her husband was trying to say too many things at once and laughing, which suggested it was time for her to step in with a demand of what was being discussed, and then she needed to settle the children down so they could all collapse…actually, she needed to settle her husband down so _he_ could crash. 

"Duo," she demanded levelly as she descended the stairs—most of the men had seen her and their expressions were reading that the man really needed to stop talking. 

Duo laughed his belly laugh, turning to look at her with a smile. "Yes, dear?" 

"What are you talking about?" she asked him pointedly. 

…and they all died laughing. 

- - 

Wufei yawned largely as he dropped onto his bed. It was going on one in the morning, and he'd waited until he couldn't wait anymore to make sure Duo's apartment was empty. 

He wasn't going to go searching for Trowa like he'd gone searching for Quatre before. Trowa was neither so lost nor so dangerous as that. 

Actually, Wufei wasn't really sure why Trowa was still _in_ the Center…aside from not saying the pretty words the therapist wanted to hear. Of course, it was damn hard to get Trowa to say _anything_ when you wanted him to. 

The news, meanwhile, was busily trying to terrify the citizens of the city into giving up the man's whereabouts. It didn't seem to have occurred to them that he'd withdrawn all of his money from his account, so was probably half-way to Argentina…if not already there. 

Wufei yawned largely, and groaned as his cell phone started ringing again…it didn't help that it was the Healing Center…_again_. 

"Yeah?" he asked tiredly. 

"Hey, Wufei," Heero muttered. 

"Heero?" Wufei demanded. 

"Sorry it's so late," Heero muttered. "I've been trying to…I'm not really supposed to be on the phone." 

Wufei snorted slightly. 

"I just…um, Duo…Duo called me." 

"Duo called _you_?" Wufei asked blankly. 

"He wanted me to tell you he was a bigger man," Heero explained quickly. "And then he gave his phone to Nat." 

Wufei's relief at this was on more than one level. 

"She…wasn't at the base," Heero noted. He'd almost launched into another recital of the conversation, but he doubted Wufei gave a shit about…well, him. 

He fell silent as he realized it. 

"They told me they'd been trying to find her but couldn't," Wufei noted. "I told them they'd have to send the soldiers after her, but I go the impression the guys didn't give a damn what they were being told to do." 

Heero blinked. 

"You're gonna get yourself in trouble," Wufei noted, kicking his shoes off. "Call me at a normal time tomorrow and tell me what the hell your girl was doing." 

"You don't even like her," Heero muttered quietly, almost unintelligibly. 

"She's annoying as fuck, doesn't mean I don't care if she's alive or not. Six months is a long time if she hadn't gone back to the base at all." 

He _did_ care. 

Heero laughed a little at that, realizing that if he didn't control himself he was probably going to break down crying. "I've gotta go," he muttered, swallowing hard. "I…I'll talk to you tomorrow." 

"All right, let me sleep in some though, huh?" 

"Uh-huh…you haven't heard from Trowa?" 

Wufei stopped, frowning at that before starting to toe his socks off. "You know as well as I do that Trowa's gone. He managed to disappear without changing his appearance before, and according to the news, he's dyed it red." 

"Yeah, huh?" Heero muttered thoughtfully. "He must _really_ want to get away…" the morose ideals from earlier took prominence in his thoughts. "I bet he hates me, too." 

"Heero," Wufei said quietly and firmly, "we don't hate you. You went too far, yeah, but we don't hate you." 

"Duo hates me," the man mourned. 

"He might," Wufei agreed. 

The Japanese male almost choked on that. 

"You pulled some shit, Heero," Wufei noted quietly. "You know you did. I know you've realized what happened now…" 

"You should have _stopped_ me!" Heero burst out, hurt again and frustrated. 

"Yeah, Heero, you're beating Duo and should stop now…don't mind Trowa over there laughing his ass off or Duo hiding out in his room…just stop hitting him." 

Heero was brought up short, then realized he was hearing someone. "I've gotta go," he whispered. 

"Go to sleep," Wufei suggested. "I'll talk to you tomorrow…call it eleven." 

Heero hung up and darted down the hall before he could be spotted. 

Wufei rolled onto his back, dropping the phone at arm's length…and jumped hard as he realized someone was _in_ the room with him. He stared at the dark haired male in complete disbelief as he reached for the phone again. 

"You shouldn't hide your guns in the open by the door on a bookshelf," Trowa noted, pointing the weapon at the man. 

Wufei guffawed, sitting up to _stare_ at him. "_**Trowa**_?" 

- - 

I wasn't sure how I'd escaped the hangman's noose after leaving the salon, but no sirens had called for me, no officers had accosted me…the process of getting colored contacts had taken about an hour before I headed on into the black-district. From there it was a matter of figuring out where to stay. 

I was a bit wary, actually, of getting too close to _anyone_. In the end I'd thought I might hit Duo's, but I knew he was social enough that he'd have the people of the building keeping an eye on his place for him while he was away. 

Getting into Wufei's had been distressingly easy, considering that his front door had been unlocked. I'd locked it, of course, and had heard him on his phone. 

I tossed the weapon onto the bed as my stomach rumbled and dropped onto the foot of the mattress. "I kinda need somewhere to sleep." 

"What the _fuck_," Wufei snapped, shoving at my shoulder so I turned to look at him. "_Gray_?" 

I grinned at that, then blinked several times. I wasn't used to wearing contacts, so my eyes were irritated. "You have…any saline?" I asked, digging the case from my pocket and looking around for his bathroom. 

"What makes you think I'm letting you stay?" he snapped. "I'm calling the Center." 

"Don't be an ass," I retorted, rolling my eyes at him and moving into the living room. "Besides, they turn the main phone off at night, so you'd have to wait for them to answer, and I'd be able to get away." 

"But I know your hair now," Wufei noted pointedly, following after. 

"Yes, and I know your girlfriend is sleeping nude," I reassured him. "She's a very pretty lady." 

He was staring at me in horror. 

I laughed happily, moving into the bathroom to properly remove my contacts. I had only gone by her place to see if he were there or not. 

"You…" he started, then stopped. 

I smirked at him in the mirror, amused by this. He didn't want to ask me why I'd looked at her or what I'd actually seen. He didn't want to note that I knew she _was_ his girl, and he wouldn't be provoking me with her dangling out there in front of him like that. 

That was the only problem with personal relationships. They were easy to exploit. 

I set the contact into the case, blinking several times as I looked back at my own green eyes again. "You like the hair?" 

"It's…stylish," he noted almost sardonically, recovering himself. 

What a dumb ass, I already knew I'd gotten under his skin, so playing it cool wasn't going to help. 

"I was gonna fuck the girl who did it, but then she realized who I was," I mused, running my hands through it. "I keep wanting to go put on a billowing white shirt and tight leather pants…maybe grab a rapier…" 

He guffawed at that. 

I laughed, running water over my face. 

"Shit, even your eyebrows, what the hell?" 

"There's this thing called disappearing," I explained, drying my face off as I met his eyes. "I'm going to take a swing at it." 

"You are stupid," he noted. 

"I'm also tired, starving, and changing my name to Paul." 

"Paul?" Wufei asked disbelievingly. "Are you going to keep that black?" 

"I thought it looked rather dashing," I agreed, posing slightly to make my point. 

"Oh, god," he muttered…and turned away. 

I laughed, straightening to pull my shirt off as I followed. 

"There's one bed," Wufei added, moving into the kitchen. "You can sleep on it with me, or you can have the couch," he indicated the thing with his head. "You just made my day hell, you know that don't you?" 

"It was only your afternoon," I shot back, dropping onto the couch and tossing the shirt at the bags I had. "I didn't leave the Center until two twenty." 

"Wow, so the dumbasses really only _just_ missed you." 

"That chick at the desk wandered off," I shrugged. "I couldn't stand it there anymore," I added, focusing on my shoes as I started to untie them. "It was…so confined…and they were always _watching_ me…" 

"Hm." 

"…at the base I could go away and you guys would leave me alone," I added tiredly, kicking the shoes off. "If I tried that there they'd come in and ask what was wrong and they were always hounding on me about being antisocial," I ran my hands down my face. "They didn't do a damn thing for me." 

"You should have just told them what they wanted to hear," he informed me. "You could have gotten out legally." 

"And been stuck here until they thought it was okay for me to be a real person again?" I gave him a look as he tossed a plate into his microwave. "I don't think so." 

"Since this is the best option," he noted, leaning against the counter to look me over again and shake his head. "Your voice should not be coming out of that face." 

"It's the hair," I returned. "If I put a hat on you wouldn't bat an eye." 

He grinned at that as the microwave beeped, then cursed after reaching into it. I watched with interest as he tossed a plate onto the counter, shaking his hand out before tossing another one into the machine. 

Had he really just…made me food? 

"Here, eat," he muttered, setting a fork on top. "I'm exhausted." 

"You lookin' for me?" I asked, suddenly wondering. 

Wufei had changed since he'd found Duo. Back in Brazil he'd been closed off and moody…but even that first day I'd seen them in the lobby he'd had a true smile on his face. Later, when Duo'd come in with his little boy to see Quatre, Wufei had taken the toddler and made him start laughing so hard that he'd gotten the hiccups…he was just…a lot more happy now. 

"Almost, not quite," he returned, pulling his own plate out and gathering a fork. "Dude, it's gonna get cold and be nasty, and this is all I got." 

"Sorry," I muttered, moving quickly to collect my plate…it smelled about as good as the pasty had. 

"Duo called Heero," he noted, moving to sit on the couch himself, staring at nothing. "I told him to get the damn song-bird to write Heero or something and he refused at first…I'm not sure what happened, but he called the Center and gave his phone to Nat." 

I blinked at that, considering it. "I thought he hated Heero." 

"Oh, he despises you both," Wufei reassured me. "He's got this thing called a conscience. It kinda fucks with you when you have morals." 

"Oh, burn," I noted, rolling my eyes. "Moral jokes from the porn-addict." 

He choked slightly on his food, starting to laugh. 

"Oh, you mean you weren't really _looking_ at the porn?" I demanded as if disbelieving. "Damn, Wufei, I got the totally wrong impression off of you…must've been all that _smoke_" 

He laughed evilly at that, meeting my eyes. "What _was_ I doing then?" 

"Looking for Duo," I noted. 

"Ooh, sharp one, you are," he muttered, taking another bite. 

I gave him a look. 

"It kept you out of my face, didn't it?" he added, meeting my eyes again. "You'd have loved it if I'd have given you something solid to feed to Heero." 

"Yeah, I kept looking," I agreed, taking another bite myself. "This is good." 

"Holy shit, you're human," he retorted. 

I smirked at that, taking another bite. 

He finished off his plate and moved across the house to put the thing on the counter. "I'm brushing my teeth and crashing. Don't take my shit and don't fucking wake me up." 

I watched him go into the bathroom and grinned slightly. 

I'd always liked his pistol, it was nice of him to give it to me like that. 

- - 

E/N: hehehe, thanks for the review, Kat. Mm, I'm having issues with chapter six, so this story might start to move slower after tomorrow. I've got a lot more to work out in this one than in the previoius three...maybe. Maybe it'll move today, lol. Reviews make me smile. 


	5. Egotistic Modesty

**Egotistic Modesty**

Wufei woke up, feeling the bed moving, then drifted back into sleep again. The motion got lost in blackness, for all that he felt something on his face at one point. There was a serious familiar smell connected with all of it, so his consciousness didn't return.

It was quiet.

Wufei rolled over, noting that the blankets were moved around. He'd woken up when Trowa'd laid down, too. He yawned largely, sitting up and listening. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since his friend had left. He had been too tired to wake up completely at the movement.

Something was weird.

Wufei frowned around his room as he thought…and focused on the desk that'd had his two laptops on it.

It only had one.

He stared at the spot in disbelief…because the asshole had taken his _good_ bag, too.

"Damn it," he muttered, moving across the room to look at the machine that was left. He'd taken the one that Quatre had given him, with the tracking chip. "Fucker," Wufei muttered darkly, turning toward the door to his room…and noting the spot where his gun had been.

He _took_ Wufei's pistol.

Wufei groaned and cursed at the same time, moving out of the room and into the living room…to see several of his DVDs…and his old cell phone gone.

_Trowa's a clepto,_ Wufei noted to himself as he moved around and spotted other miscellaneous small items.

He would never have thought it…not only had Trowa come to him, but he'd stolen hundreds of dollars worth of _junk_…

It was at that point that Wufei realized he'd told the man not to take anything.

. . .why? Why was he so blessed?

Wufei sighed, then noticed a full glass of orange juice on his counter. The thing of it was, he hadn't _had_ any orange juice before, and the glass was sweating, but not running. That meant it hadn't been sitting there long…and it was on top of a paper.

_Hey, Wufei, thanks for the stuff,_ the note read. _I'll take good care of it, and if you're really upset, just think if I'd have taken the other laptop. Don't pretend that pistol meant anything to you. You have all your good stuff in the back and bottom of your organizer in the closet. I grabbed that blue hoodie that smelled clean, and borrowed a few DVDs._

Borrowed?

_I'll drop you a line from time to time so you know I haven't kicked it yet. You can claim my laptop, and if you're feeling frisky you can grab my phone. Give my love to the little ones and kiss'em good night. Check your microwave._

Wufei sighed, sipping from the glass of still-cold juice before hitting the button to open the microwave…there was a box of donuts.

Okay, that was funny.

Wufei grabbed one, shaking his head as he studied it warily. He didn't entirely trust Trowa, nor understand how the man had gotten in and out of his house without waking him up seriously…but he had and it was done now…and aside from the laptop being expensive, and the weapon being registered, Trowa hadn't taken anything of any real value…aside from the blue hoodie. Wufei assumed that particular theft was Trowa being Trowa at his finest. That hoodie was the one Wufei had worn almost every time he'd gone to the Center.

The Chinese man didn't really _care_ that Trowa had taken what he had, he'd more expected it than not. Even telling Trowa not to had been acknowledgement that the shit would get pilfered.

No use crying over spilled milk.

Wufei decided he needed to get showered. He'd told Heero to call at eleven, and since the Japanese male had not yet come to terms with the word "patience," he figured he had another half hour to an hour at the stretch before the man couldn't take it anymore.

He really hoped the fact that he cared helped to make up for whatever petty shit he'd pulled in his former life…he wanted to at least be able to _pretend_ to have a normal life now.

- -

The morning had started early, for Duo. Almost as soon as the sun had risen, he'd climbed out of bed and over his various children to get dressed and get to the chores. He was almost regretting how late he'd stayed up the night before, but it wasn't like he'd have to do anything major.

It was already raining lightly.

Duo couldn't rightly remember if the rain falling early meant earlier floods, but it didn't matter, because he did have the boat, and he did have the GPS coordinates of the village…and he _did_ have a GPS.

On top of that, the dense trees around them would break up the _wall_ of water. It might make a strong whirlpool, but the water wouldn't just _rush_ in like it had before.

He'd never forget that moment when he'd grabbed Nassaiya and Vasu and _ran_ toward the dock…

So they were in a well protected area, he had all sorts of modern conveniences at his disposal, and he'd missed the monsoon rains anyway.

"Oi," Indra muttered, gesturing with his head as he came out of his own hut. Duo and them were staying in an extra hut that would be used for new marriages.

"Morning," Duo muttered, following the man down the dock. "You look all serious."

"I want to talk to you," he returned, moving down the stairs. "I have something to ask."

"You know you can ask me anything," Duo returned, stopping with him at the bottom and sitting on a lower stair. Indra looked a bit pensive. "And what you didn't know is I have money so I can really help."

Indra grinned at that and shook his head. "It's not…I think you might get mad at me."

Duo blinked.

"My sister cried herself to sleep almost every night for the past five months."

Oh.

Duo looked down.

"She came here, was fine for two weeks, maybe three…went back to the base and found out he wasn't coming back and hasn't slept soundly since…until last night."

Duo nodded.

"I don't like her with him," Indra added. "I don't like her pining for him…but I can't stop it. You need to send him back here."

"Send him back?" Duo demanded, amused by the idea. "I can't do anything with him."

Indra blinked.

"You didn't really talk to him, and if you ever did, he would have been perfectly normal for you to talk to…but he has some severe…" he trailed off as his language skills hit a blank. "Troubles in his mind?" he offered.

Indra offered a word that Duo didn't know.

"He has to see a doctor," Duo offered. "A…head…doctor?"

Indra started laughing at that, dropping onto the lightly wet ground.

"He's got to go through some…um…" Duo rubbed at his temples as he tried to cast around for an equivalent phrasing. "Sessions," he muttered in English. He'd never picked up on how much of the language the other man knew. "Evaluations…therapy…"

"Therapy?" Indra repeated, thinking quickly.

"I should have taken that class," Duo mused, then shrugged. "He's got to talk to the nice man in the white jacket."

Indra grinned appreciatively at that.

"He's there until the doctor thinks he's stable. He can't leave…legally."

That made the man blink.

"That's why he's not back already," Duo shrugged. "Actually, he's been pining just as much for your sister as she has for him. I don't know _how_ she can stand him, but he really seems to love her."

Nodding, Indra sat back, studying the tree tops. "I don't like it when she's unhappy. Not only is she depressed, but she's annoying."

"I can understand that," Duo mused, thinking of Relena the last time she'd gone through London. She'd been complaining extensively to Duo because her friend Juki was off running around with Wufei and wouldn't come to supper.

"I don't know what to do," he added with a frown as he met Duo's eyes. "Maybe leave your phone? Or should she go back to the base?"

"The base has a vid," Duo noted, tilting his head as he thought. "Heero'd probably die for that."

The man nodded again, then sighed and looked up to the clouds. "We should get to work."

Duo nodded, rising to his feet again to offer the man a hand, then jumped slightly as his phone started to buzz in his pocket. Indra accepted the hand up, giving him an interested look because that particular expression was somewhat amusing.

"Hello?" Duo muttered, noting it was the Healing Center.

"Duo?"

Heero sounded like he'd been crying.

"Heero?" Duo asked, frowning at Indra and nodding toward the huts.

Indra started up the stairs.

"Are you…is…can I talk to Nat?"

"Sure, just hold on a minute," Duo muttered. "You realize it's six in the morning here, don't you? Well, six-thirty."

"Is it?" Heero seemed distracted out of his misery. "I'm sorry…" the man hesitated a long moment. "I'm…really sorry…for everything."

Duo stopped.

"I…" he was starting to cry again. "I know…I fucked up…I…I didn't realize…"

Hearing Heero break down like that made Duo's stomach churn.

"I always…when you were there I was so scared of losing you, and it would make me mad…and then…you never stood up for yourself…" he swallowed hard. "I really want to make this all your fault…"

"And what do you expect me to say to that?" Duo returned darkly. "I lived in terror, always worried that I might set you off…and you're right. I didn't stand up for myself. Back then I wasn't worth it. Back then I had no one to turn to and nowhere to _go_…and then the whole kidnapping shit."

Heero sobbed.

"I understand," Duo added almost coldly. "I know you didn't realize what you were doing. I accepted that a long time ago…"

"I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I'm so…sorry…"

Duo turned at noise on the stairs and extended the cell to Natalie as she reached him. "Give it to Nas when you're done," he instructed, then gestured with his head for Indra to lead on.

Indra frowned at him slightly.

"Heero? What's the matter?" Natalie asked quickly. Her voice went from pleased and excited to concerned in a breath.

Duo gestured pointedly toward the jungle as he met Indra's eyes.

He didn't want to hear it.

- -

"Golden Garden," I muttered tiredly to the taxi driver, dropping into the backseat heavily.

"You have a bag?" the man asked just as tiredly in Hindi.

"Right here," I agreed in English, patting the thing.

He turned to study me, then looked at the laptop bag and nodded, putting the machine in gear.

It had been a long flight. It wasn't the thirteen hours anymore, but it was still a long flight. On top of that, I'd woken up extremely early.

I wondered how pissed Wufei was. Not only had I made off with one of his guns, but the hoodie he _loved_, his bag, a shit load of his DVDs, and his old cell phone. The laptop didn't strike me as an issue, especially once the genius realized why I'd grabbed it. It had the chip in it that connected me to the satellite. I hadn't been able to grab mine from the Center, and if things worked out the way I thought, Quatre would have snagged mine and tucked it away.

I was fairly certain our little connection thing broke laws.

"Where you from?" he muttered in Hindi, glancing at me in the review mirror.

"You don't have to chat," I noted, shifting down in my seat. "I don't want to talk either."

"Hm," he muttered, relaxing, too.

I liked it when I found people who understood me.

He tried to wave the fair when I'd climbed from the car, but I tossed the bills in his lap anyway. He could pocket it for all I cared.

After leaving Wufei's apartment, I'd headed to the bank that was Duo's. We'd talked about my worries and needs enough that he indicated a reserve-account would probably be my best bet. The key thing about it was that the only way anything could be moved from it was if you were there and said your specific password. There were a few other precautions, but this password was what had made it impossible for any of us to track down Duo. I hadn't realized that specifically, but it made an immense amount of sense.

The man had freaked out when he realized I had all my money in the briefcase, but he'd realized at that point that a man coming in getting a special secure account with a briefcase full of money was either a rich man with enemies, or an evil man with lax morals.

I wasn't sure exactly which I'd be considered.

I'd explained that I was moving, so I was going to use a friend's address until I got things sorted out…that way I could be reached if necessary, but other than it being absolutely necessary they needed to leave me the fuck alone.

From there I'd gone to the airport. Among other things, we were all trained to get weapons through checkpoints, and it'd taken me some finesse to manage mine since I was taking the plain legally…well, Paul Kendrick was taking the plain legally. Trowa Barton was running like a bunny and didn't want the wolf to scent him.

The flight had been boring, until the news had come on. The seats were fitted with their own televisions, so I'd watched as an anchor man declared me mentally unstable and highly dangerous. The whole 'do-not-approach' line. They'd gone over my initial internment at the Healing Center and showed a video of me talking to my shrink—I'd stayed up drinking the night before, so I'd been pretty hung over and…a bastard, as Wufei would have said.

It was kinda funny that they'd recorded _that_, of all things.

Anyway, it'd flipped to a clip from the man who'd accosted me, and his eye didn't look any better now than it had before. Worse, really. He'd had to get stitches on his lip, but I hadn't knocked any of his teeth out. His arm would hurt for a week or so, but that'd be fine…and his knee shouldn't take more than a month to heal up.

The next step of all of it had been to note my intelligence. We'd all had to take various tests to see how smart we were. I hadn't realized how hard Wufei, Heero, and Duo had been grilled when they were young at first, though. I hadn't realized that all three of them were equivalent with college students just shy of their master's. Quatre, once medicated, was about as educated as a college student our age _would_ be. They had touched on my stock of languages, but only the ones I'd used consistently.

I mean, they were the base stock of the damn planet…Chinese, English, Spanish…Russian. Considering that we'd lived in Brazil for five years, Portuguese. What they didn't realize was that I knew various African languages, and most of the languages from Indochina, too. This on top of German and such. I didn't know every _word_ of any of the languages, of course, but I would be able to go through a day comfortably in any of the countries.

So, a mini version of my life's biography kept me entertained for a good two hours of that interminable flight before I'd decided I wanted to sleep. Then it'd all just gotten boring.

The fact that I didn't have any checked luggage made for a quick slide into a taxi someone else had hailed, and the Golden Garden hotel. I'd seen it on the website for Mumbai…that's where I was. Mumbai, India.

"Hello, sir, how can I help you?" a pleasant woman asked from behind the counter.

"I need a room for…two nights," I muttered in Hindi. "Nothing fancy. Just me and a bed."

She smiled at that, starting to type on her keyboard, watching the computer screen. The place had utilized the old trick of using mirrored walls to make a room look bigger, so as she typed I saw a picture of myself flash on screen with a warning label. It was the same one they'd had on the news, and she glanced cursorily at my face.

She _was_ looking for a red-head, wasn't she?

I passed her my I.D. and credit card as she asked for the items, and after a short while, she set a piece of paper up for me to sign.

I almost signed it Trowa…which had to be the _smartest_ thing I'd ever done.

I signed the new name, Paul Kendrick, with a flair before sliding the paper to her and smiling slightly.

"Your bags?" she asked after a moment, looking around as she passed me the key to my room.

"I don't have any," I returned. "I travel light and carry money."

She nodded at that with a brief and fake grin. "Your room is on the third floor," she pointed at an elevator. "Go right at the top."

"Thanks," I noted wryly, turning to go.

So…was I away enough? Could I settle in this city? Sure, I'd ran across one person that got me…but that was one person in a huge city. That could easily be chance. I'd need to run around and see what was all going on before deciding…and I needed to send Wufei his first DVD back.

Would Wufei come for me like he had for Duo?

I leaned against the elevator wall as the doors closed, thinking about that. Why would I care if Wufei came for me?

I _was_ human. They were all I had that was even remotely close to family…I _had_ stayed with them for something like seven years…sure, Wufei and I pissed each other off left and right, but was that really anymore than two brothers?

The thing about it was, I didn't think Wufei _would_ come for me. He'd expended a _great_ deal of time, money, and energy to find Duo. The search had taken him two years…and then he'd been happy. He'd gotten to where Duo was and he'd changed completely.

But maybe since he'd changed, he _would_ come? I wrapped my arms around myself as the doors slid open and moved into the hall, checking my room number. The room was at the end of the hall, and it took me longer to get to than I wanted to take, but there wasn't a lot to be done about that.

The room was sparse. One bed, one table, and about one inch to walk between…okay, it wasn't quite _that_ small, but nearly. The bathroom was tiny, too…and the shower looked like you'd have to hang half out of it…but it was a room.

I wasn't getting off to a very good start in Mumbai. Maybe it was that I'd picked a cheap-ass hotel, or maybe it was my morose thought processing…but there it was all the same.

Wufei wasn't going to come for _me_. He didn't care that I was gone. He'd be pissed that I took his shit, even though I'd only done it for a laugh…and he wouldn't appreciate me sending him his DVDs one at a time.

Why was it only Wufei that mattered, anyway? Other than Duo hating me, both Heero and Quatre cared…didn't they?

I dropped onto the too-hard mattress and stared at the ceiling as I heard the loud noise of cars on the street below.

I felt very lonely…aside from being alone in India. I felt like no one cared for me…and I was a little scared that maybe it was true.

- -

E/N: Thanks, Cara! Sorry I didn't forewarn you! And again, I'm having issues with chapter 6, so it might be a day or so before I can get it up. Happy Mother's day! Get your mom something nice, lol...I owe my mom chocolate covered coffee beans...


	6. Quarterly Engagements

**Quarterly Engagements**

Quatre yawned as he laid across his bed, wondering if he wanted to get up or not. The blond wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do about anything anymore. Everything had gone wrong at some point, aside from realizing he himself needed medications.

Actually, Quatre was all right with the changes, it was just that they made him sad. Knowing that Heero was starting to cooperate with his therapist didn't help, either. Quatre knew that Heero was gonna have to fall _hard_ before his shit was done and over with, and the man would have to learn how to trust again.

It'd been a week since Trowa had run now. The news reporters were backing off on the story since nothing was coming of any of it. Other than that, nothing had really changed.

"Hey, Quatre…"

The blond focused on the door, and Wufei.

Wufei wasn't wearing his blue hoodie.

"What's up?" Quatre muttered, sitting up to look at him.

"I'm feelin' frisky," Wufei returned with a grin…and showed Quatre Trowa's cell phone.

Quatre smirked, meeting his eyes. The comment in and of itself was amusing, if a little odd.

"Here," Wufei added, moving to drop next to him and show him…a piece of paper.

The blond read through the letter in amusement, then met Wufei's eyes again.

"Yeah," Wufei agreed, rubbing at his neck. "What do you think?"

Quatre moved across the room and dug out Trowa's laptop, setting it on Wufei's lap and giving him a curious look.

"India," Wufei explained quietly. "I don't really want to go into it in here."

"So…what? Why didn't you turn him in?"

"What good would it have done?" Wufei asked, tilting his head at the blond. "Shit, what use was this place? You and I both know he's riding the line of sociopath. How's Heero holding up?"

"I don't know, really," Quatre returned, looking down. "He used to try to talk to me, but Natalie's with Duo now, so he just calls Duo. _They_ say he's making progress, but I don't really trust them."

"This has to be the worst facility available," the Chinese man looked up the walls.

"You're getting us moved?" Quatre asked, reading the meaning into the man's tone. "You'll warn me, right? I want to get my rose bush."

Wufei focused on him with interest.

Quatre partially blushed, looking away. Yes, the rose bush meant a _lot_ to him. The rose bush was Duo telling him it was okay, the rose bush was…actually, expensive. He loved that stupid plant and he wasn't leaving it behind.

"I think it might take me another week," Wufei muttered. "I'm not going to attack them on being worthless, I'm just going to say the fact that Trowa ran off like that will make you two unable to focus properly or something. I'm gonna play-up the mentality you had when you first got here, huh?"

"Just not me as crazy," Quatre suggested. "I'm over that now."

Wufei grinned at him, wrapping his arms around the laptop. "Where's Heero now?"

"Probably in his room," Quatre shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. He's been having breakdowns."

"Great," Wufei ran his hands down his face. "I might not be able to get you out."

"I don't want to be here anymore," Quatre noted pointedly. "Just work with that."

- -

Duo yawned as he sat on the stairs of the dock, waiting for Natalie to show up before Heero would call. For some reason, the Japanese male was incapable of _waiting_ for a decent hour to call, so he and Natalie were both on the schedule. It had made him angry at first, but as the week had worn on, Duo was starting to realize something.

Heero was taking the therapy seriously.

He'd known that Heero _would_ resist at first. He'd known that it would be hard for them all…and the fact that Heero was making the effort gave him relief on several levels. Not only would Heero stop being so overbearing, but he'd come back to Nat. Nat having her boy back would put her in a better mood and make Indra feel better.

Heero kept apologizing.

Duo was getting to the point where he could accept the apology now. He could tell how genuine the man was being with the repeated plea. He knew that his own acceptance of the apology would help Heero with his…process…and if he could actually bring himself to _forgive_ the man…he wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing, though.

At any rate, he'd been in the village a week and had about a week, maybe a week and a half before he was going back to London.

His phone started to vibrate.

"Hey," Duo muttered, answering it before the actual ring started.

"Morning," Heero said quietly.

"What's up?" Duo muttered, laying back across the dock to look up at the rain clouds.

"Nothing." There was a dead tone in Heero's voice.

"You sound enthused. You decide to stop cooperating with your shrink?"

Heero seemed startled.

"Your silence is very reassuring," Duo teased half-heartedly. "Your girl doesn't seem to have woken up yet."

"I thought she was getting up regularly," it was a half question.

"Yeah, so did I. Indra took off, and I don't want to go into their hut…"

"I thought you were close to Indra," Heero murmured.

"Yeah, I am…he saved me and Mama helped me heal…but I don't live there now. It's not my house."

"Saved you?" Heero asked tiredly.

"Yeah. That day I ran…I jumped from the window in that end room and landed wrong. I fucked up my leg…fractured it, I think. It was raining, but I had to sit down. Indra came up after me."

"He _was_ there that day, wasn't he?"

"Yeah…not that I knew it at the time. He did something to my knee and I passed out…when I woke up I was in their village."

"Huh…"

Duo sighed. "I learned the language pretty fast, you know? The total immersion thing works."

Heero laughed a bit at that.

"It was nice…but the initial stage of the flooding still terrifies me."

"It is fairly serious," his tone brightened slightly. "I heard something about gods taking sacrifice or something…the villagers that get washed away and stuff."

"I saved a girl that got washed away," Duo noted, picking up the topic. "The clouds looked…kinda like they do now, actually," the man blinked at the sky. "And Indra was talking really fast…and then an inch of water or something spilled along the ground."

"Usually, there's a look to the clouds—Natalie calls it flood-clouds. Well, it sorta translates to that."

Duo nodded as he thought. "Me'n Indra kinda went running because a bunch of the women were playing with their kids at the bottom of the stairs. I grabbed Vasu and Natalie…"

"Vasu?"

"My son?" the American asked curiously. "My oldest?"

"But…if," the man thought quickly. "Wait…you married…she has a _kid_?"

"She was a widow," Duo agreed. "I wasn't with her then…wasn't even taking care of her then. The big wave was coming and I carried them both to the dock…had to throw them to him, and nearly got sucked away with the wash."

"That sounds fun with a fractured knee."

"My knee was better by then," he noted, thinking it over. "It was a bit tender, but not serious…he pulled me out of the water before I could get washed away anyway…and then we heard screams from the next village over…"

"And you dived right in," there was heavy exasperation in the comment. "You know that's stupid."

"Who cares if it's stupid?" Duo snapped, feeling something rising in himself. It was like rebellion…and it was because the judgment. "I'm not talking to you so you can tell me I'm fucking stupid."

That made the Japanese man catch his breath, and they both hesitated a long moment. "I'm…sorry," Heero said, swallowing. "I didn't mean…I…"

Duo took a deep and steadying breath.

"It's just a bad idea…to jump in the water like that."

"So let's see…jump in the swift and save a little girl or watch her float by…hm…hard decision, that one. Geeze, I'll just be fucking _stupid_."

"I didn't mean that!" Heero protested quickly, his tone almost an appeal. "I…it's just that you shoulda…shoulda tied yourself to the dock, or…gotten a boat! Just jumping in like that could have washed you away!"

"Yeah, I'm aware of that," Duo informed him pointedly. "I saved her life without being injured, by the way…just in case you might have been interested in the end of the story."

"I'm sorry," he repeated for the thousandth time.

"But you still see me as incapable," Duo noted pointedly. "You still see me as someone you can just order around and judge…but see, I ran away from you because that was hell, and your opinion is not one that matters…and I really just lost my good humor. I thought you changed," Duo sat up, looking toward the huts. "I thought you were interested in trying to regain _something_ of our group, but I can see now that it will be the same _fucking_ thing over again if we ever even _try_."

"Duo…"

"No, fuck that shit," Duo shook his head hard, standing and moving down a few of the steps so his arms were about level with the deck itself. "Fuck this shit. I'm turning my phone off when I go to bed tonight and won't turn it on again until the village has woken up properly."

"Please, Duo…I didn't…I don't…"

"Yeah, right," Duo retorted, closing the phone. He glared at it a long moment, then tossed it onto the deck and started for the jungle.

He had better things to do than be told he was stupid.

- -

Nassaiya sat up as the sound of rattling came to her, looking around for the cell-phone. When she realized the sound was outside the hut, she climbed carefully over Vasu and darted from the room as the first tones of a cell-phone ring-tone tore through the jungle silence. The sound seemed misplaced in the setting, like a noise that would wake you from a dream…and startled more than a few people awake.

The woman scooped the phone up quickly, seeing that it said "Healing Center" and opening it quickly. "Hello?"

"Hello?" an unfamiliar male voice asked in confusion. "Duo?"

"This is Nassaiya," she returned, swallowing slightly. "Who is this?"

"This is…Heero," he returned hesitantly.

The woman lost her good humor. "Heero?" she demanded.

"Yeah."

"What the _hell_ are you doing calling _Duo_ at six-thirty in the damn morning?"

The man's breaths were starting to shake.

"Sure, its ten-thirty in London, but the sun hasn't been up long here. What do you want?"

"He hung up on me," Heero said in a slightly choked voice.

"You only beat the _fuck_ out of him," Nas snarled. "Don't call him anymore."

"I wanted to talk to Natalie!" he protested.

"So get her her own fucking cell phone."

"Please, Mrs. Maxwell!" Heero pleaded quickly. "Please! I didn't mean to make him mad! Let me talk to him…"

"Duo's not here," she snapped.

"I was _just_ talking to him!" Heero protested, sounding injured.

A movement at the corner of her vision caught her eye, and the woman focused into the jungle as she realized her husband was walking away.

"Nas?"

Nassaiya turned to Natalie, who had puppy-dog eyes.

"Why are you awake?" Nas snapped back at the woman.

"Is that…Heero?"

"Is that Natalie?" Heero asked quickly.

Nassaiya gave the woman a look.

"I overslept," Natalie explained quickly, moving in closer. "I'm sorry, I meant to meet Duo so it didn't wake anyone else up."

"You knew he'd call?" Nas demanded.

"I've…called all week," Heero noted quietly. "Duo answers it and…gives it to her."

Nassaiya narrowed her eyes, looking after her husband. He'd seemed somewhat upset at lunch a few times, but he hadn't ever said anything about it.

"Can…I talk to him?" Natalie asked uncertainly.

"If you woke my sons, I will take this phone from him," she informed Natalie irritably.

"It's Duo's baby, isn't it?" Heero asked quietly.

"Yes, Camden is Duo's son," Nassaiya retorted. "He's not married to anyone else."

"I just…I've never met you…or him…or…"

Nassaiya made a disgusted noise and tossed the phone to Natalie, listening for a moment before deciding to find Duo.

They really needed to talk.

- -

I sighed as I moved away from the counter, crossing my arms and looking outside. I was in Mangalore now. I needed to go buy a ticket for Calicut. Mangalore hadn't quite suited me. I'd only stayed one night, and was already ready to move on. I'd stayed a few nights in Marmagao before deciding to move on…I'd really thought India would be good for me.

Actually, I was realizing more and more that it was the fact that I wasn't with _them_ that it was an issue at all.

I moved down the street, considering things. My morose thoughts hadn't gotten too much brighter, but I did know better than to think that Wufei would be pissed about the stuff I'd taken. He would appreciate me sending him back his DVDs one at a time…at least on some level he would.

My hotel was close to the post-office, so I moved into the main room and stopped as an Indian woman looked at me with interest. She had dark skin and long black hair.

"Excuse me," I muttered, moving out of her path.

She looked me over with interest before smiling at me. "You look lonely."

"I've had a long week," I returned with a slight smile, starting around her.

"Oh?" she asked curiously.

"I'm trying to find a place to settle down."

"I'd usually be thrilled to hear a man say that, but something about your tone gives me pause."

I smiled more at that, starting toward the elevators.

"Oh, don't run off," she protested, bouncing after me. "I'm bored and I've seen you wandering around here by yourself…everyone needs someone to talk to."

"Most men don't," I noted pointedly.

"I'll believe that when my brother stops coming home from work and telling me all about his day."

I grinned slightly, turning to meet her eyes.

"Come on," she coaxed. "I know you wanna talk."

I smiled again and rolled my eyes, moving into the elevator as people moved out of it. For a moment I thought I'd gotten away from her, but she darted in as the doors closed and grinned at me.

"Ah, chasing me down," I noted. She wasn't exactly the bell of the ball, but she certainly wasn't ugly.

"I like pretty boys," she returned.

"Pretty?" I asked pointedly.

She laughed. "I could see you in tight black jeans and a billowing white shirt…"

I started laughing at that, not believing she'd said it. Sure, I'd made the same joke to Wufei, but Wufei was someone I was familiar with.

"Maybe a rapier?" I offered, half posing.

Her laughter came again, and it was a bright bubbly sound. She seemed like a very happy person.

"What's your name?" I asked, moving toward her as the doors opened again.

She gave me a mildly disbelieving look since I was moving in, and backed away. When she took a second step, she realized the doors were opened and almost blushed, grinning wickedly at me as she moved from my path.

"Well?"

"I'm sorry the dashing man I followed into the elevator gave me pause," she retorted.

She'd said it…oh god…she'd…

"No," I muttered, chuckling happily. "What's your name?"

"Wh…oh," she blinked, thinking about what I'd said. "Oh…I'm Amelia."

"I'm Paul," I returned, heading up the hall. "If you follow me I'll probably end up seducing you," I paused to meet her eyes, "just to warn you."

She gave me a disbelieving look, moving after.

Seriously?

"I don't think you will," she informed me. "I think you're putting up front to keep me at bay."

"I think I haven't gotten laid in six months," I retorted.

She laughed at that. "You're horrible."

"Only a little bit," I turned to walk backwards. "I'm serious. You come in my room with me and you probably won't leave it tonight."

"I'm not that easy," she noted.

"I did use the qualifier 'probably'," I reminded her happily.

"You do want to talk, don't you?"

I laughed again. "Sure, let's go with that."

She gasped at me in shock, stomping her foot.

I laughed delightedly, pulling my key from my pocket and sliding it in the door. The lights of the lock flashed briefly before the thing turned green, and I pushed my way in.

"Wow, luxury suite," she noted sarcastically.

"I'm sure it only seems small because my ego," I reassured her.

She laughed again, moving to pull the curtains open. I moved across the room and dropped onto the mattress, watching her with interest as she tidied up my crap. I'd taken the charger of the laptop as a matter of course, and was using the machine to play online. I reasoned that if Wufei had gotten my laptop from Quatre, he could use it to find his laptop. I had no doubts in my mind that after things got settled, I'd be sending Wufei his machine back and reclaiming mine. I wasn't going to initiate the exchange until I found a place to live, though. Exchanging sensitive machinery via mail wasn't something I enjoyed. …and if I sent him the laptop I'd have nothing to watch the DVDs on.

"So why are you here, Paul?" Amelia asked curiously, sitting at the table and moving her finger across the mouse-pad to wake the machine up. "You seem to be traveling light."

"Sometimes you just have to get away," I returned with a slight grin. "Shouldn't you ask?"

"I've never been told no, dealing with laptops," she smiled sweetly at me. It was almost a dare, like she was challenging me.

"Whatever," I returned, shifting around to be under the blankets. "When you get bored there, join me here."

"Ha!"

I grinned settling down with a sigh. "If you rob me, I'll find you and make you regret it."

"What does that have to do with _any_thing?" she demanded, focusing on me.

"I'm probably going to fall asleep before you get bored. That machine is top of the line with perks you'd never see on a civilian machine."

"Ooh, big word, soldier-boy."

"Sorry, the ability to speak in laymen terms and etymology fails me when my body and mind are suffering from the exertions of daily activity."

She started laughing.

- -

E/N: Yay! I got through some of my writer's block! Sort of...seven is still being pounded into submission, we'll see how long it takes...rarr.


	7. Sacred Trusts

**Sacred Trusts**

Quatre studied the screen as the news reporter bemoaned the mistreatment of he, Heero, and Trowa. Whatever Wufei had done over the week had exploded. It had all boiled down to an impassioned speech the Chinese male had given to the full assembly. He'd all but denounced the Healing Center as an institute for money making, a pure business with the pilots as cash-cows. It had instantly created a ripple effect of Heero and Quatre being taken from the building.

"You just _have_ to have this stupid thing on the counter, don't you?" Wufei grumbled, moving to look around the rose-bush at the blond. "You couldn't put it on the table or something, could you?"

"What?" Quatre protested.

"This bush," Wufei muttered, prodding at the thing. "I can deal with a _vase_, but this is ridiculous."

Quatre started laughing, rising to his feet and moving to take the plant. "If you could just let me get it in the _ground_…"

"You've been home for two hours," Wufei accused.

"I thought you said you weren't going to make them bad-guys," Quatre hazarded, taking the pot from the counter and moving with it toward the back door.

"I wasn't going to…I was going to argue the place having stigma," Wufei noted, passing the blond a plate of steaming food as he thought. "But they were all listening to me and…um…"

"You like speeches," Quatre muttered in amusement.

"I got carried away," Wufei agreed, taking a bite and moving to drop on the couch.

"I still think it's weird that they talked to me for twenty minutes and let me leave with you."

"I have to keep an eye on you," Wufei shrugged, putting his feet on the coffee table. "I need to make sure you take your pills, even when you don't think you need them…and if you flip out and do something stupid, it's my bad. You still see a therapist and you still have supervision…this should just be more comfortable."

"Thanks," Quatre shifted the plate as he poked at it.

It had been surprising. He'd been digging out the rose-bush, because Wufei had told him he'd probably be moved before much longer, a day or two. He'd barely gotten the thing in the pot when he heard shouting. The shouting had become louder and Heero had moved uncertainly from the main hall into the courtyard to give Quatre an uneasy look. It'd taken minutes after this for men in military uniforms to come in and request that they accompany the group.

By the time Quatre'd gotten all his things from his room, they'd packed up Trowa and Heero's rooms and they were marched from the Healing Center into waiting vans as the media circled like vultures. They'd ended up at a government building where Quatre'd been taken to a comfortable room and a therapist had come in to talk with him.

It had been scary, in several real ways. Quatre knew that his own mind-set had kept him from "growing" as time moved on, and that the fact that he felt scared was a direct result of the years being emotionally stuck as a seventeen year old…maybe even sixteen. The man had talked to him about the Center, about Trowa…and about how he himself felt. It'd seemed almost too fast that he was moving into Wufei's apartment and setting the rose-bush on the counter.

"You okay?" Wufei asked, studying him seriously. "You need to know you can talk to me no matter what."

Quatre nodded, dropping next to the man on the couch. "It's just…so sudden."

"I'm sorry," Wufei apologized sincerely. "I didn't mean to piss them all off, but the Center has been pissing me off since…almost as soon as you guys got there. I figured it'd take a day or two for you to get seen and stuff…that you'd have a few days…but…uh…"

Quatre grinned, meeting his eyes.

There was a knock at the door.

Wufei moved across the room hesitantly. He had a very small house, and with the way things had been going all day he didn't trust a knock on the door when he wasn't expecting it.

"Hello, Mr. Chang?" a pleasant man in a brown uniform asked.

"Yes."

"Sorry to bother you," he muttered, extending a small box.

"Oh, thanks," Wufei took the thing, noting it was from Paul…a.k.a. Trowa. "Thanks a lot."

Maybe it was Grandeur…that particular theft had annoyed Wufei a lot more than even the hoodie, and he hadn't realized it would until he'd wanted to watch it. He closed the door and moved back toward the couch as Quatre studied him curiously.

"He borrowed my DVDs," Wufei explained, popping open the packaging. "He's sending them back as he's through with them."

"Oh?"

"Hm," Wufei noted, studying the address again. "It's from Mangalore…again."

"Again?" Quatre tried to get a better look at the package.

"Yeah," Wufei tossed the box to him as he grinned at the package.

Grandeur.

"What's that?"

"The movie I wanted to watch for two weeks and couldn't," Wufei noted, popping the thing open…and blinking at the disc inside.

It was a porno.

"What?" Quatre asked, trying to look at that, too.

_Wufei, I'm not done with your movie yet, but you should probably appreciate this._

Wufei started laughing, dropping onto the back of the couch.

"What?" Quatre asked, setting his plate down.

"See?" Wufei showed him the post-it note first.

"Uh…huh," the blond blinked.

Wufei showed him the disc.

Quatre started sniggering.

"I really _want_ this movie back," Wufei protested, dropping the case down. "Geeze…"

"Oh, come on, you were _always_ watching porn before."

"I was _not_," the Chinese man retorted irritably. "I was looking for Duo and if anyone looked at my screen I'd…pull up porn."

Quatre gave him a look.

"What? I did," Wufei pouted slightly. "I'm not _that_ bad…if you wanna watch this use a laptop," he gestured toward the area he had a bed set up. "If you want the room I'll change," he added, moving to pull out the silk screens he'd brought in. "We aren't going to live here that much longer…so I just kinda improvised you some personal space…is that okay?"

The blond moved to help him move the screen around, then studied the living room. "This place is tiny."

"I don't need loads of space," Wufei shrugged. "I've been watching the ads for places…we'll probably be able to get an apartment like Duo's."

"Duo," Quatre thought. "Does he know what's going on?"

"I told him what I was doing," Wufei shrugged. "I didn't mean for it all to snap today, though, so he might be startled."

Quatre nodded, moving to sit on the bed inside the section as he thought. "I kinda…like this," he muttered, moving to move the screens so the area was closed off.

"That's a plus," Wufei noted.

"Hey…have you _used_ that laptop yet?"

"You can use it," Wufei noted in amusement.

"Don't be an ass," Quatre retorted. "Have you looked to see if your machine was online?"

Wufei blinked. "No…I haven't."

"You should check," Quatre noted, moving back out of the area. "I miss Brazil."

"The base was nice," Wufei agreed, moving to pull out Trowa's laptop from his room. When he'd moved back into the main room again, he tilted his head at his friend. "I have an appointment to see people tomorrow about a place over by Duo's. If it works we'll be in here three days at the most."

"It's very you," Quatre reassured him, looking the place over. "Nice to get out of the sterile environment…but I hope my rose will be all right," he was studying the plant at the window.

Wufei frowned, looking at the thing. "It's the one Duo bought, isn't it?"

Quatre nodded, moving to it and touching the leaves as he tried to see any signs of distress.

"It'll be fine," Wufei noted quietly, watching that. "I wonder if Tro's gonna settle in Mangalore."

"Maybe he just found a playmate," Quatre suggested, dropping to his rear and looking out the back door…it was sliding-glass.

"Maybe," Wufei agreed, booting the machine up as he sat again.

He wasn't so sure it was a good thing he hadn't thought to look for Trowa online.

- -

"If you want us to stay," Duo noted to Indra, "we can stay."

"No," Indra reassured him with a smile. "It will be fine. The rains come and the rains go. They did it a million times before we were born, and they'll do it a million times after we die."

"As long as you're sure," Duo muttered. "I could help you make another boat…or…"

"Duo," Indra muttered with a happy smile, "you can stay if you want to."

Duo laughed at that, meeting the man's eyes.

"I would love it if you moved here," Indra added, "but you have a life in London…I'll come bother you for a week or two and see how much modern living terrifies me."

Duo grinned. "Come on, let's go…get packed."

Indra sniggered. "How about _after_ the floods leave? I wouldn't sleep a night with the floods coming or even if I knew they'd hit."

Duo sighed and nodded, understanding that. The first year he'd been in London, he'd spent a long month tossing and turning while he fretted.

The second week of the visit had passed, and it was still raining. The visit had been nice and relaxing. Now, Duo was waiting for the SUV to pull up to take he and his family home. Well, to Manaus.

"Duo?"

Duo turned to Natalie as she moved up to him, wiping at her eyes. "Can I please keep your phone? I'm sure Heero will pay you back…please…"

"No," Duo returned for the fiftieth time.

Natalie looked about to burst back into tears. She'd argued that she couldn't go back to the base because it would be unsupervised. Duo wasn't sure how her going there would be unsupervised now when she'd worked there for seven or eight years, but she was adamant.

"Duo," Nassaiya muttered in exasperation as she moved up. The look on her face was resignation…and he wondered briefly if women really _could_ read minds, because Natalie turned to stare at Nassaiya a moment, looked to him.

He gave her a curious look.

"I'll be ready in…five minutes," she reassured him…then ran for her hut.

Indra was trying not to smirk.

Duo blinked.

Nassaiya shook her head and rolled her eyes. "What do we have to do to make this legal?"

Duo blinked again.

"Duo?" Nas pressed, moving so he actually looked at her. "What do we have to do to make this legal?"

"What just happened?" Duo returned, blinking again.

"Oh, Duo," she grumbled, rolling her eyes and meeting Indra's eyes.

Indra started laughing.

- -

"I have to go home," Amelia protested, laughing as I tried to keep ahold of her. "Paul…"

"One more night," I begged, allowing her to drag me. "Come on, just one more…"

"I work tomorrow," she returned, laughing slightly. "My brother is expecting me and I work."

"Amelia," I whined as we moved into the lobby. "You're the one who made me talk to you…"

"And I had _fun_," she retorted. She stopped, kissing me briefly before grinning and starting to move again.

"Don't _go_," I protested, stopping the chase game.

"I have to go home," she said seriously, turning to meet my eyes. "My flight leaves in about an hour, so I _have_ to go…I waited too long already."

I pouted at her.

"When you're done doing whatever it is you're doing here, come find me."

"Where?" I asked instantly.

"Tuticorin," she replied, smiling at me a moment, then turned and darted out the doors.

I sighed.

"I wondered what she was doing," the receptionist muttered. "Her van has been waiting there ten minutes."

"My bad," I returned with another sigh, moving to lean against the counter next to him.

"Why _are_ you here, Mr. Kendrick?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure you said two nights when you first got here, and you were muttering about checking out early before that woman started talking to you."

I grinned, shaking my head. "I'm just trying to find where I belong."

"You might look into Tuticorin," he suggested, watching the van pull away. "I think you might find something there you like."

I grinned, watching the van until it went out of sight. "I don't want to be too eager."

"Since clinging to her and begging her to stay isn't over the top," he agreed wryly.

I laughed at that, meeting his eyes.

"Just go," he suggested. "If you don't have anything holding you back, you may as well chase her down…hell, I can even book you a seat on her plane."

_That_ was an appealing idea.

"You have the money for it?" he added. "You can pay?"

I nodded, then made a gesture for him to do what he did and darted for the stairs. The elevator was going to take time I didn't want to waste.

- -

_Yo, asshole._

I jumped as the messenger screen popped up…with a message from me.

I grinned.

_You there?_ Wufei asked. _Send back Grandeur and I'll surrender your porn._

I laughed happily at that.

Amelia had been startled when I showed up in the waiting area of the airport with her, and she'd started laughing again when I showed her my ticket and informed her I'd almost missed my flight. I added that there was something important waiting for me on the other end, and I'd seen her heart melt a little bit when I explained that she was that thing.

_You there, __**Paul**_ he pressed.

_Sorry,_ I returned happily. _Just busy laughing my ass off._

_You seem to think you're funny._

I sniggered, then considered a moment. _You mad at me?_

_I want my damn DVD back._

_Just buy it again,_ I protested.

_That's entirely __**beside**__ the point._

I made a little design for his amusement that looked about like the middle finger.

He ignored that. _Me'n Quatre got a place by Duo's._

_Huh?_ I asked blankly.

_I got all self-righteous Monday and got them out of the Healing Center. If Trowa ever comes back, they'll have a sit down with him to see his mental state…I'm assuming they'll leave him be at that point._

_Can someone __**hack**__ this?_ I demanded. That was the only reason I could come up with for referring to me in third person…or second person? Whatever, for referencing me that way.

_No, but Quatre's having a therapy visit._

_What the hell is going on?_ I was annoyed at not knowing the full details.

_The Center wasn't doing anything for anyone,_ I could imagine him shrugging with that. _I just pointed it out to the people who mattered, got a little impassioned, and just about started a lynching. They were out of the Center in say…twenty minutes. Took Quatre to Main and had him talk to a shrink for a while, then got him cleared to live with me. Heero's in another center…a better one. He's been cooperating with his shrink because he's been able to talk to the damn song-bird._

_Natalie? How? I thought the Center wasn't letting him talk to her._

_She wasn't at the base, and it's the basin,_ again he probably shrugged…or would have, if we were talking face to face. _Duo went back to Nas' village, the one he was staying at before, and the song-bird was there. I guess Heero's been talking to her every morning after his sessions. When Duo realized I'd switched things around here, he was surprised. Heero was calling consistently at six-thirty their time, but with the new shrink he has to wait until after noon here._

_Wow,_ I felt intelligent. _So…if…Tro…goes back, it won't be stakes and pitchforks? What'll happen if he brings his girlfriend?_

_He has one?_

I smirked. _He followed her to Tuticorin and is currently living in the house with her and her twenty siblings._

_Please tell me that's an exaggeration?_

I laughed happily, which made Amelia move into my sight.

Her bedroom was on the second floor of a huge family manor. Her parents were working on kicking the children out one at a time, but they did have two or three little ones.

_Not by much…I get confused which ones are brothers and which ones are nephews._

_Wow._

"What's going on?" she asked curiously, stopping in her bedroom door. The fact that we were obviously together was giving her parents some issues, but they weren't talking out about it yet. I knew it was a matter of time before I had to get my ass out of there, and she'd expressed interest in going to London several times over the two and a half weeks we'd been together.

"My friend finally messaged me," I explained. "Sorry."

"It's not an issue," she reassured me, smiling. "I just like to hear you laugh."

"Is it bad that I've fallen for you?" I asked her curiously, studying her dark eyes.

She grinned wickedly at me and moved over to kiss me. "What did you think I was trying to do? It's not often you can get the pretty boys to chase you down and beg."

I laughed, kissing her again.

"I need to finish," she added, indicating the main hall. It was larger, and she'd been given the task of dusting some decorations. I'd tried to help, but she was having kittens that I wasn't being _nearly_ careful enough. She'd chased me off.

"All right," I muttered, kissing her briefly again before she walked out.

_Anyway, you can come back now,_ Wufei noted. _I have an apartment with three rooms, but you'll be supervised until they decide you're really sane…won't be as bad as the Center watching you, but you'll actually have to do what they say because it's the military. Rent'll be fairly cheap for me'n you to split._

_Me'n you?_ I repeated. _Why doesn't Q have to pay?_ That was kinda unfair.

_What kind of person do you take me for?_ he retorted. _The little ones need to save their money._

I started laughing again, sitting back in my chair. This also meant that he wouldn't charge me for Amelia living there while we waited out the evaluations.

"Hey, 'Melia?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think about London? Really?"

"I'm going to go there before I die," she returned, moving back into my sight.

I grinned more. "You wanna make it sooner than later? Because…uh…my friend has an apartment with a spare room, and I can put some money away so you can come back if you decide you don't like me."

She moved to the door to blink at me in disbelief.

"What do you say? Can I make at least one dream come true?"

"I think you've found two," she returned, moving closer to me. "Are you sure?"

I looked around her bedroom a moment before meeting her eyes again.

She squeaked excitedly, darting across the room to drop in my lap and hug me. "I think you've terrified me," she noted. "I think you've lost your damn mind."

"Just wait until you see my real hair color," I teased. She'd seen me without the contacts repeatedly. "You'll think _you've_ lost your damn mind."

That got me a look.

I grinned at her, considering her a minute. "What do you think about Brazil?"

"Brazil?" she asked blankly.

"Yeah, there's a base there…I have some shit I have to clear up in London, and then I'm thinking I'll head back to warmer climes."

"You actually just said _climes_, didn't you?" she muttered, sitting back to study me in amusement.

I grinned at that, kissing her nose. "How soon you want to leave?"

"Why wait?" she asked sweetly. "I mean, honestly…we've been together two weeks and you're living in my family home."

I sniggered at that.

"I'll go tell my parents," she noted. "You'll have to give one of them the money for my return ticket, or they _will_ freak."

"Brilliant," I kissed her again. "I'll make this end of the plans."

She smiled at me, then darted from the room.

_So…Wufei,_ I typed, _we'll be there tomorrow._

There was a pause. _Wonderful,_ he returned. _Bring me back my damn hoodie._

_**End**_

- -

E/N: yeah...so ends Dark Sight...I'm not sure when I'll get to Heero's bit, though...hope you enjoyed.


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